


The Truth is REALLY Out There

by Mistymay6886



Series: Magnus Bane, Psychic Detective [8]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Psych Fusion, Asexual Character, Asexual Raphael Santiago, Case Fic, Crossover, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Magnus Bane-Psychic Detective, Pansexual Simon Lewis, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-07 08:50:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 49,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14667567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistymay6886/pseuds/Mistymay6886
Summary: While investigating some rather strange occurrences at a Scifi convention Magnus and the others stumble onto a mystery that is unlike anything they have ever encountered, that istrulyout of there world-So, how will afakepsychic detective deal with a case involvingrealMagic?Crossover withThe Librarians…





	1. Magic Multiverse

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so truth be told I’ve been waiting for this one for, like 2 stories…I’m _really_ excited about this one.
> 
> Just fair warning; this will probably go kinda out there and may not seem totally in our universe...
> 
> But I think I have a fix for that (there’s a hint there, by the way).
> 
>  
> 
>  ** _The Librarians_** is one of my favorite Shows, for those of you who don’t watch it…Go watch it now…
> 
> _Kidding,_
> 
> Though you should; it is totally unique and really entertaining, lots of fun, lots of craziness, and genuinely likable characters.
> 
>  This is one of the only shows I’ve ever watched where I actually liked _ALL_ the characters, usually there’s at least one I want them to kill off (Usually there the only one almost guaranteed to survive everything)
> 
>  _Anyways_ , the premise of the show is that Magic is real and wild magic can generally wreak havoc on the world…
> 
> People Called _‘Librarians’_ are tasked with corralling magical artifacts and protecting the general public from its effects.
> 
> They are protected by their guardian, Eve Baird, former NATO counter-terrorism agent- she is _awesome_ and totally kickass, ( _have I mentioned I love this show_ _?_ )  and helped by Jenkins, an immortal caretaker of The Library…
> 
> Usually there is only ever one librarian; however we actually have a TEAM:
> 
>  
> 
>  **Flynn Carson** is the original Librarian, he is kind of off the wall and scattered but also brilliant and slightly insane,
> 
>  he is romantically involved with Eve…he also has a tendency to disappear a lot of time (That’s what he’s going to do for this story as well)
> 
> ****
> 
> **Ezekiel Jones:** is one of the best thieves in the world…he’s also kind of a prankster, and has a really cute Australian accent…
> 
>  He’s kind of reckless, super confident, and sarcastic 
> 
> He’s pretty sly and very intuitive, but really is a good person- _even if he will try to deny it._
> 
> ****
> 
> **Jacob (Jake) Stone:** is a Cowboy from Oklahoma, used to work for his father drilling oil.
> 
>  In actuality a genius who has majors in art and history, knows and speaks many languages, published many books and articles under a pseudonym,
> 
> And has a heart of gold.
> 
>  He _is_ somewhat serious but has a somewhat dry, sarcastic wit that is really great.
> 
> **_ Jake/Ezekiel is my OTP for this series… _ **
> 
> ****
> 
> **Cassandra (Cassie) Killian:** is brilliant and Magical…literally.
> 
> She has a tendency to find ways to mix Math and Magic and calls it Mathmagics,- which is adorable and if I thought I’d be able to write her type of Mathematical babble I’d totally drag her along on the case too…
> 
> She is a genius especially in Mathematics and seems particularly in tune with the Magic they encounter.
> 
>  For much of the series she had a tumor in her head that caused her to have synthesia (where your senses get mixed up and entangled) she worried about having it removed, because she thought it would take away her abilities with Magic and Math…
> 
> It didn’t,
> 
>  Her abilities actually _magnified_ after the surgery and she also has a slight bit of telepathy- she can push faint thoughts into others head
> 
>  (It’s kind of confusing, because she is probably my favorite character, but she is not part of my OTP for this show, though she was kind of seeing this really cool vampire girl for a while and I’m pretty sure she’s actually had more luck with women than both the guys on the team put together…on one episode she was literally ‘prince charming’)
> 
>  She probably won’t play a huge roll in this story, but I couldn’t NOT mention her…she’s just too awesome.
> 
>  
> 
> So,
> 
> Are we all caught up?
> 
> _Yes?_
> 
> _Good…_
> 
> Onto the actual Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** Story Updated 11-26-2018 **
> 
> (So I finally finished my first ‘season’ I actually got it done, so now I’m going through, editing and making sure they all go where they’re supposed to…also cleaning up the excess emphasis things-I know I went overboard in the 1st few stories – and all that kind of thing.)
> 
>  
> 
> _-Though in regards to the italics, I DO use them to indicate inner thoughts, so some scenes may seem to have a lot of them still-_
> 
>  
> 
> I’m also making sure the formatting is all the same and I have the headings for each part correct since I’ve settled on ones I really like. I am going through the entire series so it may take me a bit…but I will get there)
> 
>  

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

**_Flash Back:_ **

**_Santa Barbra 2004_ **

 

“I summon a Fiery Hellhound” Magnus proclaimed, slamming the card down on the counter

 

“Cast a Shock spell” Raphael countered raising an eyebrow

 

“Spell of growth, it cancels the hit”

 

“Giant Spider”

 

 “Alabaster Mage”

 

“Mind Control spell”

 

 “Gladecover scout ”

 

“Auramancer”

 

 “Revoke Existence”

 

“Ah, Man!” Raphael groaned, tossing down his remaining cards

 

“Ha! Yes, I win again!” Magnus enthused

 

“Are you guys playing that crazy card game still?” Henry sighed, entering the room

 

Magnus nodded quickly, giving him an excited grin,

 

“Yeah, see, Raph almost had me with the mind control spell, but Gladecover Scouts are immune to spells, but the Auramancer does affect it, luckily I had the Revoke existence!”

 

Henry raised his eyebrow shaking his head slightly

 

“That’s, uh, great…I think. So, are you guys ready to head over to the station?”

 

Magnus nodded,

 

“Sure, we’ll play again later.”

 

“Not if you cheat” Raphael muttered

 

“I’m not cheating!”

 

“Then how’d you end up with so many blocking spells?”

 

“I don’t know! It’s a game of Magic, maybe that’s why, maybe it’s Magic.”

 

“Or maybe you’re cheating…”

 

Magnus shook his head quickly,

 

“I’m not! I’m just really good at it, that’s all!”

 

Raphael rolled his eyes,

 

“Oh, yeah right! Y-”

 

“Okay, that’s enough…If you guys are going to keep arguing I’m taking the cards away.” Henry warned

 

“NO!” They both exclaimed

 

“Magnus? Where you cheating?”

 

“No I wa…Well, not _exactly_ , I mean, I may have just kind of memorized the cards in the deck and I may be able to tell which ones he has…by a few of the details on the back…Technically that’s not cheating, it’s just counting, and being observant” Magnus said sheepishly

 

“I knew it!”

 

Henry sighed,

 

“Magnus, that is cheating…”

 

“I…yeah, sorry Raph…I didn’t mean to, it just kinda happened” he gave his friend an apologetic shrug,

 

“Yeah, I know, it’s okay I know you wouldn’t actually, purposely cheat…maybe, just with this, you can try to be slightly less observant?”

 

Magnus nodded

 

“Okay, I will…” he paused a minute, tilting his head

 

“Hey, you know? We wouldn’t have this issue if we got another pack or two of the cards… If we mix those in it’ll kind of cancel out the counting” Magnus said hopefully

 

Henry chuckled, shaking his head

 

“Magnus, are you actually trying to trick me into buying you more of those cards?”

 

Magnus gave an overly innocent look, shaking his head,

 

“What… _no_ , I wouldn’t do that. I just wanted to find a way to make it fairer, that’s all. I mean, I can’t help noticing all the details, you know that.”

 

“Of course not…” Henry said, still laughing slightly

 

“I don’t know why you guys want to play that crazy game anyways. Wouldn’t you rather play detectives or something more down to earth?”

 

Magnus huffed, rolling his eyes,

 

“Dad, I’ll have all my life to be a detective. And besides; this has Magic, spells and creatures and all kinds of other crazy, fantastical things, it’s awesome.

 

How cool would it be if all that where real?”

 

“But you know it’s not? Right?”

 

 _“Yes,_ dad, I know, I know” Magnus said rolling his eyes

 

“So, can we please get some more? This way it’ll be more fair? _Please_?” Magnus asked hopefully

 

Henry sighed, faintly

 

“Fine…we can get a few more…” He relented

 

“Yes!”

 

“Come on, let’s head out” Henry said, turning, heading for the door

 

“Kay, we’re coming” Magnus called,

 

Raphael laughed, faintly, shaking his head

 

“I can’t believe that worked” He whispered excitedly

 

Magnus grinned, throwing his arm around Raphael, laughing quietly

 

“See, I told you, I _only_ have good ideas” Magnus boasted,

 

“Yeah, yeah…”

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Other-Other-Other-Other-Other

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**_(Ezekiel)_ **

**_Present Day:_ **

**_Another Universe:_ **

 

“Whoa!” Ezekiel exclaimed eyes wide, leaping out of the way as the clippings book shook and shuttered, before flinging itself across the room erratically

 

“ _What the hell!?_ It’s never done that before!”

 

He quickly ducked, covering his head trying to get out of range just as Jake and Cassie rush into the room.

 

“Hey what’s- _Woah_! Heads up” Jake shouted, grabbing Cassie and pulling her out of the way of the book’s path

 

“Well…that’s not a good sign…” Jenkins sighed, slowly coming down the stairs, raising an eyebrow,

 

“It’s heading back your way! Get it!” Jake warned as it seemed to double back, darting about the room like a trapped bat.

 

“Think fast!” Ezekiel shouted, quickly grabbing an intricate walking stick on Flynn's desk, swinging it around and catching the book, sending it back towards Jake and Cassie. She reached up, quickly catching it, wrapping both arms around the book, trying to keep it in place.

 

“Be careful! You don’t want to hurt it!” she admonished, looking over the book for damage

 

“Hey it started it! I just finished it!”

 

“Congratulations Jones, you took out a book.”

 

Jake rolled his eyes slightly

 

“A _magical_ book” Ezekiel snitted back, still somewhat wearily eyeing said book

 

“Jenkins, what could possibly cause that?” Cassie asked concerned, ignoring the other two librarians bickering, they did it so often, it was basically just background noise at this point…

 

He sighed, shaking his head,

 

“Nothing good, that’s for sure. Open it, what does it say?”

 

She carried it over to Eve’s desk, laying it down cautiously, in case it seemed ready to take flight again. The book appeared to have stilled now. Ezekiel, Jake and Jenkins approached, peering around her at the book. Cassie opened it perusing the scattering of articles.

 

“Hmm…It seems that there have been some strange events happening at a Scifi convention in Santa Barbra-”

 

Ezekiel gave a slight laugh,

 

“Wouldn’t it be weirder if something strange **_wasn’t_** happening at a Scifi convention?”

 

Jake shrugged, nodding slightly,

 

“You kinda have a point there, Jones”

 

Jenkins shook his head,

 

“Not _this_ strange: It seems quite a few of the patrons are seemingly unable to tell reality from the various shows being showcased there”

 

“ _Once again_ , I fail to see the strange part… Have you ever really sat and talked to some Scifi fans?”

 

Jake gave a slight laugh

 

“Uh, I’m kinda with him on this one…”

 

“Well, this is way worse than the standard overly obsessed fan. They legitimately believe they ARE characters from these shows… Also, as of yet at least a few people connected to it have disappeared completely.”

 

“So, an artifact that can affect people’s memories and perception of reality… Something that can make people forget who they are. Any idea what it could be?” Cassie asks, glancing over at Jenkins

 

He shrugged slightly

 

“Hmm…Well, there are any number of things …It could be Houdini’s cuff links, they have the ability to make anyone highly suggestible, making them believe anything they’re told.

 

Mata Hari’s ruby necklace has a similar effect. Apate’s dagger allows anyone holding it to control the minds of anyone around them… and that’s just the ones off the top of my head. There are plenty of other possibilities …”

 

Ezekiel tilted his head slightly

 

“But what’s the big deal?”

 

Jake rolled his eyes, folding his arms and shaking his head slightly

 

“What do you mean? Someone is using an artif-”

 

“To control others, to wipe memories, to basically trap people in weirdly specific delusions, yadda yadda, _I know…_

 

What I mean _is_ ; that isn’t really much different from any other case we’ve had. The way the clipping book reacted was totally different from anything else we’ve ever seen. I would think that that means that the case would be as well, don’t you?” he asks raising his eyebrow

 

“Hmm…” Jenkins murmured, leaning closer to examine the book better. “I do believe you are correct, Mr. Jones…”

 

“Well, of course, I’m always right” he boasted

 

Jake snorted

 

Ezekiel ignored him

 

Jenkins ignored both of them, continuing…

 

“There has to be something unique to this case…”

 

“Hey, why is the ink purple, anyways?” Cassie asks, rather randomly

 

The other three glanced over at her curiously,

“What do you mean?” Jake asks,

 

She shrugged, 

 

“Well, I mean, I know it’s kind of an odd thing to focus on, but I’ve never seen a newspaper printed with purple ink.”

 

Now the other three were staring at her, alarmed

 

“Uh…Cass? It’s not” Ezekiel said, somewhat concerned…

 

“ _Yeah_ it is…I mean, it’s not like, really bright or anything, but it is definitely purple…”

 

They continued staring

 

“C-come on, Zeke, stop messing with me, this really isn’t the time.”

 

“Cassie, he’s not; it just looks like plain black ink to me” Jake said gently

 

Now she was starting to get worried

 

“Jenkins, y-you see it, don’t you?” She asks somewhat desperately

 

“No, Ms. Killian; I really don’t…”

 

He trailed off, leaning closer, rather interested

 

“I just don-…Oh, _oh_ this really isn’t good…I know why the clipping book was acting so odd.”

 

 Jenkins interrupted his own sentence, suddenly looking much more concerned

 

“What is it?” Cassie asked anxiously

 

“It’s because these articles aren’t from here…They’re not from this universe. Cassandra?  That is why you see it differently.  Because of how your mind works you are uniquely in tune with this universe…in particular with the magical elements; which are absolutely ingrained in most every element of our world.

 

The reason it appears so different to you is that without the magical aspect, your mind is registering the differences, even if you don’t actually perceive what it is. It recognizes them as something otherworldly that simply does ** _not_** belong here.”

 

 “What do you mean it’s from a different universe? _There’s a different universe?!”_ Jake asked, alarmed

 

Jenkins shrugged, giving a faint nod,

 

“ _Well_ , in actuality there are hundreds of them…There are countless ways in which-”

 

“ ** _Oh my god!_** It’s the Multiverse theory! That’s real?” Cassie exclaimed, excitedly, clapping a bit,

 

“Like… the comic book thing?” Ezekiel asked confused, raising his eyebrow,

 

She shook her head quickly,

 

“No! Well, yes, _kind of_ anyways…

 

The multiverse is a theoretical framework in modern cosmology which presents the idea that there exist vast arrays of potential universes which are actually manifested in some way.

 

So, there are endless arrays of possibilities that exist from pretty much every event that has ever happened…It postulates that somewhere, every one of those things DID happen and it took that world in a totally different direction.”

 

Jenkins nodded, giving a faint nod,

 

“Exactly, thank you Ms. Killian; quite concise”

 

“So, why are we getting articles from another universe? That doesn’t seem like it should be possible” Jake asked

 

Jenkins sighed, giving a slight nod,

 

 “It _shouldn’t_ ; crossing between universes is extremely dangerous. It could cause irreparable harm to both…The only way this would happen is if something was taken from our universe into another.”

 

Jake raised his eyebrow,

 

“So, someone stole an artifact and traveled to another universe?”

 

“Yes, exactly…and, from what you are picking up, Cassandra, this other universe is totally devoid of magic…Meaning there is no one there that could even begin to get a handle on it.

 

 Wild Magic is dangerous in general, but unleashed on a world with no real experience with it, no counters to it?

 

 It is quite possible that this could completely upend their universe…And should **_one_** collapse, it could cause a chain reaction, causing the collapse of others as well… perhaps even ours.”

 

“How could someone even manage this?” Jake asked, concerned

 

“I do not know how they did it… the only artifact I have ever been aware of actually capable of it is the Janus compass **”**

 

“The what?”

 

“Janus is the Greek god of transition and portals…His compass is the only object that I am aware of that can allow people to travel between universes… and it’s here at the Library.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Yes, it’s one of the more powerful objects in, well, _any_ universe…”

 

“So, we can use it, go there and bring the Artifact, as well as whoever stole it, back here, as well as whatever it is they are using to travel between worlds, right?” Cassie asked, hopefully

 

Jenkins shrugged,

 

“Well…in _theory_ , but it can only transport two people at a time. Also, with Flynn being unreachable as of yet and Eve laid up from the thing last week with the Minotaur, I really don’t know if we _can_ handle this right now. 

 

Furthermore; the last time it was used the travelers had trouble getting back to our universe… and it had a _slight_ , ill effect.”

 

“What ‘I’ll affect’?” Ezekiel asked, perplexed

 

“Atlantis sank…”

 

Ezekiel huffed, rolling his eyes,

 

“Oh, is that all?”

 

 “Well, we have to do something- this could, literally destroy the universe, a few of them. We need to find out who did this, Find out how they did it, and get it back to keep it from happening again.” Cassie said, determined

 

Jenkins nodded,

 

 “I quite agree, this really is a matter that cannot wait for Eve or Flynn. Though, I couldn’t travel to this other universe…Magic may not work the same there as here…

 

I have been alive here for over a thousand years…It is possible that, should I cross universes, those years may catch up to me…it could, quite possibly prove fatal.”

 

He turned to Cassie

 

“And, Ms. Killian, as in tune as you are with our universe I really do not think you should try it either. I do not know what effects it would have, and I don’t think we should risk it.”

 

Jake looks over at Ezekiel and sighs,

 

Ezekiel grins cheekily at him before turning back to the others,

 

 “Okay, so it’s decided;

 

Me and Jake just hop on over, cause as little harm as possible, catch the thief, nab the artifact,  and keep the world from collapsing… _or_ sinking any random cities upon our return…

 

Simple enough, we got it” Ezekiel finished, throwing his arm casually around Jakes shoulders

 

Jake rolled his eyes

 

_This was going to be a very long trip…_

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
> 
> ** ______________End Of Chapter/Notes___________ **
> 
> *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
> 
> Okay, so, like I said this one may go out there kinda, but I think using the multiverse thing it would be a good way for me to get to play with all the crazy librarian stuff and still not mess up my detective universe…
> 
> Like I said I’ve been looking forward to this story for a while, the only thing I was hesitant about was worrying that this will negatively affect my detective universe:
> 
> I think I can make it work out really well.
> 
> Also, it is, once again, after 1:30am, and as I have been up since 4am I’m gonna tell you now there may be some errors that I haven’t caught yet, and it may not make as much sense as I think in my current state
> 
> I’ll review once I get some sleep, but I had to post.
> 
> _What do you guys think so far?_


	2. An Un-Convention-al Case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **  An Un-Convention-al Case **
> 
> ** (Yes It’s a Pun…No I’m not sorry) **
> 
> ** Summery: **
> 
> ****CHAPTER COMPLETE*****
> 
> Magnus gets hired for an unusual Case…Simon is Ecstatic
> 
> They run into a familiar face
> 
> Notes:

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Raphael-Raphael-Raphael-Raphael-Raphael

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

 “No, but really that’s-”

 

“Excuse me? Is one of you Magnus Bane?” A smooth, faintly accented voice asked from the doorway,

 

Simon startles slightly, he hadn’t even heard the bell. He, Magnus and Raphael turn to get a look at the newcomer,

 

 He was just about Magnus’s height, maybe a bit taller, and really quite handsome. He appears slightly overly tanned with pitch black hair that is a stark contrast to his very light, almost startlingly light, blue eyes.  He is dressed in a nearly black, midnight blue, well fitting, expensive designer suit. Magnus smiles charmingly, giving him an appreciative once over.

 

“I’m Magnus Bane…And who might you be?” he says in a rather flirty tone, leaning against the desk

 

The man gets a slightly star-struck look that seems just slightly out of place, before reaching forward to shake Magnus’s hand.

 

“Wow, it really _is_ you… _Sorry_ , I-I’ve just read all about you, uh, about all the cases you worked, it’s kind of surreal actually meeting you. My name is Lidan Campbell, I’m the head of promotions and events for Personas Exposition Hall an-.”

 

Simon gasped excitedly tapping Raphaels arm a bit too enthusiastically

_That might leave a bit of a mark_

 

“ _Wait, wait, wait!_ That’s where they’re having the Santa Barbra Scifi Convention this week!”

 

Lidan seems to startle slightly at his enthusiastic reaction, somewhat unsure

 

“Y-yes? It is, I w-”

 

“I wanted to get tickets, but it’s been sold out for MONTHS!”

 

“Well I kn-”

 

“ _And you actually get to work there?!_ Oh my god, _that is SO cool_! So wh-”

 

Raphael reaches over, resting his hand on Simons’,

 

 “Simon, amor, let the man finish his sentence…” Raphael cuts him off gently, before he could really get going; he shook his head affectionately,

 

Simon blushed slightly and tried to temper his excitement, but he was still practically vibrating with it,

 

_God, Simon was adorable…how did he ever get so lucky?_

 

Raphael smiled warmly at him, before turning to face Lidan, his smile turning into something not nearly as warm, and much sharper.

 

“Then, _I am_ **sure** _,_ as he is here to talk to Magnus, and he, in all likelihood, needs Magnus’s help with something, he will be more than happy to answer whatever questions one of Magnus’s _dearest_ friends, may have...” he finishes raising his eyebrow, almost daring him to contradict that.

 

“Uhh…yes, o-of course I will…” He stammered, somewhat nervously, taking a slight step away from Raphael

 

He shook his head slightly, coming back to himself

 

“Umm…anyways, as I was saying I actually came here to hire you.”

 

Magnus gave him an almost affronted look,

 

“For a…Scifi convention? Mr. Campbell, I realize Psychic abilities are rather unusual but this is not some-”

 

Lidan’s eyes widen, he frantically shakes his head

 

“Oh! No! Not for anything like that…no, I actually wanted to hire you for a _case_ ” he explained

 

Magnus tilted his head,

 

“A Case?”

 

“Yes… You see, as your friend has already said the Scifi convention is being held there this year. It is a weeklong event and tends to bring in quite a lot of money…

 

However, this year something… _odd_ it going on. People are acting quite bizarre; they seem to be convinced they actually ARE characters in these shows. It’s happen to quite a few, at first we thought it was an elaborate act, or overly obsessed fans, but they won’t snap out of it, they _genuinely_ believe it…That was weird enough, but now there have been a few people who have disappeared entirely.”

 

Magnus tilted his head curiously

 

“Disappeared? Have you went to the police?” he asked, concerned

 

Lidan shook his head

 

“I, no I haven’t.  I realize I probably _should_ , but this convention is one of our biggest events of the year. It truth, this event going well is imperative for the hall to stay in business. If word got out about all of the bizarre happenings it could end up damaging us so much that we end up closing.

 

Mind you, I wouldn’t put money over someone’s life or health or anything like that…But there is the very real, more likely option that they just got tired of the convention and left. I just don’t want to get the authorities involved if it is in anyway avoidable…I was hoping you could maybe come to the convention and investigate?” he finished hopefully

 

 

Simon made a slight squeaking sound; he was clearly trying to keep from commenting but could barely contain his excitement, Raphael chuckled slightly, slipping his arm around Simon and kissing his cheek lightly.

 

_Really, no one should be that adorable…_

 

Magnus shook his head affectionately before turning back to Lidan with a smile.

 

“Well…If I _were_ to take the case I would need access to the event.”

 

“Yes, of course, I can get you all access passes and everything, you’ll have full reign of the event.”

 

“ _Actually_ , it wouldn’t be just me. You see, I have a team that I work with. I need them with me, it helps with my perception, you see…

 

I really couldn’t do it without them” he finishes, smirking slightly

 

On the couch Simon is still trying valiantly to keep quiet, but he is practically bouncing in place, he has a grip on Raphael’s hand that looks painful. Raphael looks torn between pain from his hand, total adoration over Simon’s excitement, and resigned horror at having to be dragged around a Scifi convention by his adorable, excitable, boyfriend… 

 

Magnus tries to hide a laugh. Judging by the look Raphael shoots him, he didn’t hide it very well.

 

“Sure, no problem…whatever you need. How many of you will there be?”

 

Simon makes a sound that’s almost at a level only dogs could hear

 

Magnus grins

 

“Oh, there’ll be four of us”

_Raphael wonders if wherever he is Alec just got the same uncontrollable shudder he just had_.

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

 “I can’t believe I fell for this…” Alec muttered, shaking his head, as he dodged nearly running into a guy painted bright blue dressed in a metallic, day glow yellow suit.

 

 Magnus had called him asking for help for a case.  It seemed that he’d got hired to look into a few disappearances. The client was hesitant to call in the authorities on the chance that it was all just a misunderstanding.

 

Magnus had said that, although he knew it was Alec’s day off, he _also_ knew just how worried Alec could get about him working cases without any backup, and that if Alec had the time he would really like him to come along, just in case there was something nefarious going on…

_Of course he’d agreed without a second thought,_

 

Pleasantly surprised that Magnus would actually be approaching this sensibly and _really_ looking at all the possibilities, rather than just jumping in and figuring it out later _, _as he so often does_._ He was so surprised; in fact, that it didn’t even _occur_ to him to ask _what, exactly_ the event was. Not even when he’d asked where he wanted to meet and Magnus had said that he’d come by and pick him up so they could just ride over together…

 

He blamed himself really,

_Actually, no, he blamed_ **Raphael**

 

The guy could have _at least_ sent him a text with a heads up.

 

He comforted himself with the fact that he was almost certainly more miserable here than Alec. The second they’d arrived Simon had practically bounded out of the car, talking a mile a minute. He’s grabbed Raphaels hand tightly and pretty much dragged him off right into the thick of the crowd. 

 

_So at least he didn’t have to deal with that_

_Still…_

 

“Oh, now darling, it’s not _that_ bad.” Magnus assured, patting his shoulder

 

Alec glanced back, giving a sarcastic, slightly annoyed look, raising an eyebrow

 

“I can't _believe_ you tricked me into this.”

 

Magnus gasped, giving an overly exaggerated affronted look

 

“ _I didn’t ‘trick’ you!_ I’d never do such a thing!”

 

Alec rolled his eyes, scoffing slightly

 

“What? I didn’t! I never _lied_ …It IS a case, and, should it become something _other_ than the much more likely possibility that those who ‘disappeared’ merely had enough of all this ‘excitement’ and went home, then it really would be better if I had backup, just in case.”

 

“Uh huh…” Alec said, with a sardonic smile

 

Magnus linked his arm with Alec’s, patting him lightly on the shoulder, leaning close, and giving an overly innocent look, practically batting his eyes.

 

 “Darling! It most likely is nothing, _but_ , should it prove to be more, it would be much safer having a strong, well trained, brilliant, _gorgeous_ detective with me, just in case…”

 

 Alec shakes his head, rolling his eyes again, but can’t stop a slight chuckle, raising his eyebrow,

 

“Laying it on a bit thick there, aren’t you? By the way, has anyone ever _actually_ bought that innocent look?”

 

Magnus chuckles, shrugging slightly

 

“Maybe I was, doesn’t make it any less true… and no, not really, but it’s always worth a shot.”

 

He squeezed Alec’s arm slightly, giving him a more genuine smile

 

“I know I was a bit deceptive, but I really did want your help with this. There is the possibility that this could be an actual case; though people leaving a convention and Scifi fans acting weird and getting carried away is not exactly hard evidence.

 

Honestly, the _lack_ of that would be more unusual…But I don’t want to go into this just _expecting_ nothing and end up blindsided. Truthfully I don’t think it’s anything; I mainly took the case so Simon would be able to attend the convention,” he gave a brilliant smile, bouncing slightly,

 

 “ _Alexander_ _, _you should have seen the dear when he found out he was getting to go__! It was too adorable to describe.

 

Even so, I thought it would be beneficial to have some help just in case, and I rather figure Simon will be too distracted, and Raphael will be too busy being dragged around by him and just trying to keep up.”

 

Alec chuckled at that nodding slightly

 

“Yeah, I’d kind of feel bad for the guy, but as he didn’t even give me so much as a heads up, and he still purposely scares me from time to time, _and I know damn good and well it’s on purpose_ …I kinda don’t.”

 

Magnus gives a bright, surprised laugh, nodding eagerly,

 

“ _Darling_ , that is terrible; though you _do_ have a point.”

 

Magnus tilted his head, looking over at him with a hopeful, impish smile,

 

“So, as me dragging you here has given you the opportunity for a bit of payback with Raph, does that mean you forgive me for tricking you?”

 

Alec rolls his eyes slightly, but smiles

 

“Yeah, I guess…”

 

Magnus grins, then leans up and presses a quick kiss to Alec’s cheek, causing him to blush

 

“S-so…what exactly is this case anyways?” Alec stammers out

 

“Oh, well, apparently there are a few of the patrons at the convention that have been acting rather odd, they seem convinced that they are, in actuality, characters from some of these shows…In addition, there have been a few people that have disappeared from the convention altogether,

 

 Lidan Campbell, the head of promotions and events hired me. Though in truth he seemed rather eager to meet me. He didn’t seem overly concerned about the disappearances. And he said he’d read all the articles about the cases I’ve worked.

 

Not to sound conceded or anything, but I rather think he may just be a bit of a fan and this was an excuse to meet me…”

_Alec felt his heart drop_

 

“Oh…umm, so, what was he like?” Alec asked nervously, not really sure he wanted to hear the answer

 

Magnus gave a faint, dismissive shrug,

 

“Hmm…? Eh, nothing _too_ interesting.  _Fairly_ attractive, in an overly slick, Hollywood phony kinda way.

 

Way too tan, almost to an unhealthy degree, and although I _do_ generally have a weakness for the dark hair/light eyes combo, it just seems a bit much with him. In all honestly, he seemed just a bit dim and rather forgettable…As I said nothing too interesting”

_Alec let out the breath he’d been holding_

 

“Anyway about the ca-”

 

“Hey, _is that_ **Jace** _!?”_ Magnus exclaimed with a slight, barely controlled giggle, freezing in place, causing Alec to stop as well, as Alec just realized Magnus’s arm is still wrapped around his…

 

Alec quirked his eyebrow, shaking his head with a faint chuckle,

 

“What? Jace wouldn’t come to a …” he trailed off when he caught sight of his brother; and then he promptly burst out laughing.

 

“Okay, I take it back…thank you SO much for dragging me along, I owe you _big_ for this” he said in between laughs.

 

Alec slipped his arm around Magnus’s shoulders to steady himself and try to catch his breath. Magnus was no better, he was full on giggling, there was no other way to describe it, he had one hand to his face, trying to stifle it, but it was of no use…

 

Jace; _arrogant, snarky, totally self assured,_ **Jace** , was standing at one of the booths for some show or the other…

 

He was wearing a shimmery silver, super cheesy ‘futuristic’ suit, with some kind of ray gun looking thing slung over his shoulder.

 

His usually slick blond hair was replaced with, _what Alec could only hope_ __was__ , a neon green spiky wig, the tips were a brilliant orange. He had a few prosthetics on his face, and a slight bit of metallic orange-ish costume makeup and…

 

_Oh my god…_

 

Bright shimmery neon green lipstick

 

Alec turned back to Magnus eagerly, tugging his a bit closer, grinning brilliantly,

 

_“Seriously, I owe you SO much for this, you are the best!”_

 

Magnus gave him a playful smirk and a wink,

 

“I know I am darling, now come on! We have to go over there!” Magnus says still giggling slightly,

 

Alec gives a gleeful nod before hurrying along with him,

 

Magnus still reaches Jace first.

 

“ _Well, well_ …finally decided to update your look? I like it, though I don’t really think that’s _quite_ your shade, dear”

 

Jace startles, and then groans when he realizes who it is. He looks over to glare at Magnus, then spots Alec- _and Alec’s grin_ \- and groans even louder.

 

“What are you guys doing here?” he hisses exasperatedly,

 

“Right now? Just _really_ enjoying the moment” Alec says with a faint chuckle, smirking playfully

 

Manus beams at him, squeezing his arm slightly before turning back to Jace,

 

“Though not nearly as much as _you_ seem to be enjoying the convention”

 

Jace rolls his eyes, glaring and blushing slightly.

 

Alec is pretty sure that’s a first.

 

_The blushing, the other two things he does an annoying amount of times a day…_

 

“Oh, shut up…I got cast for an upcoming part in this show, _Cosmos_ , and they decided to have me come to the convention to kind of give a sneak preview of the character.”

 

Magnus slips his phone out beginning to type quickly…

 

“What are you doing? Telling Simon and Raphael so they can laugh too?” he snipes

 

Magnus shakes his head with a bright grin,

 

“No, they’re around here somewhere and Simon’s determined to see everything, I’m sure they’ll see you soon enough. I don’t want to ruin the surprise…

 

I was looking up the airing time for the show and setting my DVR to record it, I don’t want to miss a second”

 

Alec laughs, nodding enthusiastically; he rests his hand on Magnus shoulder leaning in closer to see the phone.

 

“Thursdays at 9?”

 

“Yes, darling…though, you should probably just come over about 7:30 or so. This way we’ll have enough time to have dinner and Simon will have enough time to go over the events of the day before the actual show starts, you know how the dear does go on,”

 

Alec nods

 

“Good thinking, I could probably just pick up dinner on my way over”

 

Magnus beams

_“Lovely”_

 

Jace groans again, glaring at the both of them,

 

“What are you guys doing here anyways? And, more importantly, _can you get back to it?_ _”_ he grumbles

 

Alec finally takes pity on him, dropping the teasing

 

“We’re working a case; Magnus got hired to look into some supposed disappearances and strange behavior. Have you seen anything odd?”

 

Jace gives him a sarcastic look,

 

“ _Alec, it’s a Scifi convention_ , everything is odd.”

 

Alec raises his eyebrow

 

“Says the man with neon green lipstick and hair?”

 

“Hey! It’s for a part, okay? And anyways, _Magnus_ __has wild colored hair and lipstick all the time!_ _ He probably has this exact same color!”

 

Alec shrugs, smirking a bit, shooting a playful glance over at Magnus, tilting his head consideringly, before giving a faint shrug,

 

“Yeah, that’s probably true, but the difference is _he_ could actually pull it off.”

 

Magnus laughs brightly, absolutely beaming at him, tightening his hold on Alec’s arm, leaning into him a bit more.

 

_Alec heart speeds up_

 

He takes a deep breath, and tries to ignore the fluttering feeling that smile causes, turning back to Jace

 

“Just, if you see anything, let us know.”

 

“Sure… _fine_ , whatever, can you just _go_ now? In a few minutes we have to act out some scenes with the fans…I really don’t want you guys here for that.”

 

Alec laughs, shaking his head

 

“Oh, no way, we’re st-”

 

Magnus catches his arm once again, smirking mischiviously,

 

“Now darling, _clearly_ the poor boy is far too shy to have us here, and we wouldn’t want to hurt his performance…we’ll leave, good luck dear. I’m sure you’ll be _wonderful_.”

 

With that he turned and walked away quickly, pulling Alec along with him

 

“Why did we have to leave? This is bound to be hilarious” Alec asked, glancing back, slowing faintly, He still doesn’t pull away from Magnus though.

 

 Magnus glancing over catching his eye and gives that impish grin that is _far_ too appealing, the one that usually means he’s up to something,

 

_It’s even more appealing when the ‘something’ isn’t something likely to backfire…_

 

“I quite agree; that is why, while you were talking to him, I gave my number to the girl running the booth so she could forward me a copy of the recordings they make of every scene they reenact…”

 

Alec bursts out laughing

 

_He’s never been so happy to be tricked into something in his life_

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **_ Just FYI _ **
> 
> The reason I didn’t get anything posted Tuesday is because I in fact managed to work out my ENTIRE outline…
> 
> I actually have the last about 5 chapters pretty well worked out, and I REALLY can’t wait to see what you guys think of how this story goes…
> 
> _I love it SO freaking much!!_
> 
> Fair warning…this is a crossover with Librarians and that means that I have a whole new universe of stuff to play will…and I have a fix to bring it all back to us, so I am going to totally  _run_ with the crazy
> 
> This’ll be a lot of fun, and I know no one is gonna see all the twists coming…
> 
> _Because **I** didn’t even see them coming when I started this!_
> 
>  
> 
> Also, with Ezekiel and Jake in the mix I have a whole new set of characters to play with, and I only get them for this one story so they may get a bit of extra time…
> 
>  _Unfortunately_ , that means we’re gonna be pretty short on the Saphael for this one,
> 
>  _Sorry_ , you all know how much I adore them…but I had to cut something, and they’ve had three (four, counting the oneshot) that are focused almost entirely on them
> 
> Almost Forgot my little name game...That's how excited I am about this
> 
>   ** _Lidan_** - _(I have An Arbiter)_
> 
>  ** _Campbell_** _-(Twisted Mouth)_
> 
>  
> 
> Anyways…I hope you guys like this as much as I do
> 
>  


	3. A Whole New World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Ezekiel make it to the other universe 
> 
> Meanwhile, Simon is still ecstatic
> 
>  
> 
> FYI... I did add the second half of chapter 2 so if you missed it you may want to go back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the first scene happens the day **_before_** our cast goes to the convention, so the librarians gets there the same day as our team…
> 
> _Kay? Okay_
> 
> Moving on…
> 
> Also, I’m just gonna throw random references to my fave scifi/fantasy shows because, well, why not?
> 
> And I have more Fantasy than actual Scifi, but it still works…

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Other-Other-Other-Other-Other

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

##  _(Jake)_

_Ugh… No wonder more people didn’t use the Janis compass…_

 

The trip was absolutely nauseating, as well as exhausting. Jake felt worse than he had after the fight a few weeks ago with the Manticore, and in that he’d gotten stung by the damn thing then thrown into a wall ( _well, kind of trough the wall…it wasn’t very sturdy_ ). He groaned as he collapsed, face first, onto the too hard motel bed. Ezekiel was in showering, he seemed to have handled the travel a bit better than Jake.

 

 When they’d left Cassie had been trying to work her Mathmagics in order to find a way to communicate with them across the universes; he really hoped she could. It seemed surreal; they were actually in a totally new universe.

 

 He shook his head slightly

**_Ezekiel Jones_** _was the only person he knew in the world…_

 

 It was literally just him and Ezekiel together against an entire universe. He scoffed slightly, 

 

_That sounded like a line from a cheesy romance novel,_

_Where the hell did THAT come from?_

 

He must be exhausted…

 

Maybe traveling through worlds or universes or dimensions, whatever you want to call it, scrambles your mind or something…That really was the only explanation…

 

  _Cause he wasn’t interested in Ezekiel Jones_

 

 Yeah, he was kind of attractive… _okay_ , so, more like **_ridiculously_** attractive,

 

Also very clever…

 

And he did have a pretty good sense of humor, _well, when it wasn’t aimed at Jake_ _…_

 

Kind of stupidly brave, too.

 

And _sure_ , he was also kinda sweet; though he hid that behind an overly self assured veneer. He’d get SO flustered if someone pointed out something nice he’d done, grumbling out some excuse.

 

Also, while he _technically_ had the least amount of formal education of the group, he definitely more than held his own intelligence wise with the rest of the team. He unquestionably had an invaluable set of skills, and Jake knew most of it was pretty much self taught.

 

The guy never seemed to miss an angle, a way to get something to work…He never seemed to miss a step,

 

 Really, he was brilliant…

_He was also nearly a decade younger than Jake_

 

Not to mention the guy was boastful, brazen, _somewhat_ conniving, and an **_absolute_** trouble magnet. If there's a way someone could get in trouble, Ezekiel would find it.

 

And yeah, okay, he could usually find a way out of it _too_ ,

_But that’s beside the point…_

**_His point_** _was that he was absolutely not interested In Ezekiel..._

_Not at all…_

 

“Well, it’s all yours” Ezekiel says, sounding relaxed and happy, coming back in the room and flopping down bonelessly on the other bed.

 

He’s wearing a pair of dusky blue track type pants and a fitted, grey tank top type shirt with a faded band emblem on it. He’s hair is kinda mussed and haphazard and his cheeks are flushed bright pink from the shower.

_Nope…No interest whatsoever…_

 

Jake closed his eyes, regulating his breathing, trying to make himself fall asleep. Purposely trying _not_ to think of the fact that he’d be sharing a room with Ezekiel for however long it took them to track down a magical artifact in a totally new universe. He was almost asleep when a slight sound caught his ears.

 

He opened his eyes, glancing over.

 

“What are you laughing about?” Jake grumbled, raising his eyebrow, which was about the closest thing to movement he could really manage at the moment.

 

Ezekiel chuckled, rolling over onto his side so he was facing Jake, grinning, propping his head up on his hand

_Seriously?_ _Jake could barely raise his eyebrow_

 

Either he was getting too damn old or there was some kind of energy transfer involved in hopping dimensions,

_He's going with the latter…_

 

“I was just thinking about tomorrow” he explained somewhat excitedly, with a bit of a warm laugh to his voice

 

Jake sighed, giving a bit of an almost shrug,

 

“And that’s funny because…?”

 

Ezekiel snickered again, sitting up more, grinning

_Yeah, definitely an energy transfer_

 

“Oh, come on! _You have to see it!_  We just traveled to an alternate universe to attend a **_Scifi convention_** in an effort to track down a magical object. How surreal is that? I mean…”

 

Jake chuckled … closing his eyes, vaguely listening to his chattering, smiling slightly

_Only Ezekiel…_

 

Like he said, he never missed a step

 

Or a laugh… 

 

He really was something else

_Yeah…this was gonna be a looonnng week…_

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Raphael-Raphael-Raphael-Raphael-Raphael

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

 “Oh! Look at THIS!!” Simon said excitedly, dragging Raphael over to a stand for some show with a black impala and a really tall guy, a slightly less tall guy and a dude in a trench coat…

 

Raphael sighs

 

He truly adores Simon, but this is a lot to take in.

_Still, it’s for_ **_Simon_ ** _, and there really wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for the man…_

 

He glances over

 

Simon looks absolutely ecstatic, like a kid on Christmas morning, his is practically glowing _._

_Yeah, okay, Raphael may hate this convention,_ **_with a passion_ ** _, and he may be maintaining his sanity by plotting ways to get back at Magnus,_

_But it’s all more than worth it to see that smile._

 

 He is chattering, as he’s been doing since they had arrived, even more than usual, telling Raphael every last detail of each show. Some of them he’d watched a bit with Simon, some he’d never heard of…Some made him wonder exactly what the writers were on when they came up with them.

 

  _He did like the Doctor Who booth._ They even had a few printed comics with Madam Vastra and Jenny, which was pretty interesting.

 

He may have bought one or two, _for_ ** _Simon_** , of course…

_Okay, a little for him too._

 

Also, they had a photo booth that looked like the Tardis. Simon had eagerly dragged him inside. They’d taken nearly twenty pictures, more than half of them Simon was happily kissing Raphael.

_Maybe they could loop back around that way…_

 

 He glances around, just taking in the randomness surrounding them. _At this point it all just seemed to blend;_

 

Some show with werewolves and _lots_ of brooding, shirtless guys…

 

Random Vampire show…

 

People chasing dinosaurs around modern day London,

 

Something set In Texas with a psychic, a witch, a cat, and an angel…he doesn’t know if he _wants_ to know why there’s a tiger with them…

 

Star Trek kinda thing

 

Vampire and the Private investigator

 

Oh, _Agents of Shield_ , he actually liked that one, even knew the name of it 

 

Some detective/cop type thing based on Fairytales... _Okay_ , whatever

 

Oh look, more vampires…

 

Something with ray guns and _crazy_ bad fashion…

 

The characters seem all glaringly brightly colored and are dressed in silver…One guy with garish green and orange hair and neon lipstick is chatting with a blue girl. He seems cocky and arrogant, which is truly a feat in that get-up.

 

Raphael couldn’t imagine going out like that, much less trying to pick someone up…That level of self assurance seems bordering on delusional.

 

Wait…

 

_Wait…_

 

_Th-That wasn’t?_

 

_No way, it couldn’t be…_

 

_Oh my god…_

 

“Simon, look!” Raphael stopped him, cutting him off mid sentence, pointing over to the booth

 

He glanced over looking at where he was pointing

 

“Hmm? Cosmos? I’ve seen that show, it’s okay. Kinda cheesy, but fun…Do you watch it?” he asked curiously

 

Raphael gave a laugh

 

“ _I’m going to_ ** _now_** _!_ Look, the guy with the green hair and lipstick!”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Simon; it’s _Jace_!”

 

Simon froze, eyes wide

_“Oh, my god, it IS!”_ Simon said eagerly, practically bouncing

 

He tightened his hold on Raphael’s hand, 

 

“Come on we have to go over there!” he enthused, tugging Raphael along

 

He follows with a smirk

_Okay, rest of it aside, he’s kinda glad he didn’t miss this…_

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
> 
> ** ______________End Of Chapter/Notes___________ **
> 
> *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
> 
> Okay, I know I probably should have had Simon and Raphael teasing Jace, but if I get into that this chapter is gonna get really long really fast,
> 
>  I want to keep this, as well as the next two chapters fairly short because after that it’s gonna ramp up kinda fast and I know I’m gonna get lost in some stuff…
> 
> We’ll see how it goes.
> 
> _My goal is to keep this one under 40k words…_
> 
> That being said, I’m not going to shorten a story just for the sake of keeping it under a certain word count, I just don’t want to get bogged down too early…
> 
>  
> 
> Last thing, I kinda closed the age gap with Ezekiel and Jake a bit
> 
> The actors are nearly 20 years apart, (25 and 43), and that’s a bit much for me…
> 
> I figure in this, Ezekiel is about 27, Jake 36, this way they’re kinda the same age group as my established cast…
> 
> Anyways, what do you guys think so far?
> 
>  


	4. Actors, Investigators, and Psychics, Oh my

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Ezekiel investigate the convention,
> 
> Ezekiel meets someone rather odd; and that’s coming from someone who hunts down Magical objects for a living…
> 
>  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, disregard what I said in the last chapter…
> 
> This one ended up pretty long, but I really like it
> 
> Also, I may spend a bit too much time describing Magnus’s, but, well…can you blame me?
> 
>  
> 
> Last thing, I was going to have a whole different scene with Jace trying to ‘help’ the case, but I ran out of space and I really want to get to the next part, so he’ll just have to wait for a bit…

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Other-Other-Other-Other-Other

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

##  _  (Ezekiel) _

 “Will you _stop_ laughing?” Jake grumbled for about the tenth time since they had arrived…

 

Ezekiel shrugged, He couldn’t help it.

 

They were travelers from another universe, sent by an immortal former Knight of the round table, with the aid of a compass created by a Greek god, trying to track down a magical artifact at a _freaking Scifi convention!_

 

  _How could you NOT laugh?_

 

At least Cassie had laughed about it with him…She’d called this morning, because, well, of course she’d be able to figure out how to get them a way to communicate between universes, it was _Cassandra_ , after all.

 

She’d started trying to explain how, but all he got was ‘It was **so** obvious…’ Followed by a string of complicated, multi-syllable words, half of which he was fairly sure she was making up. He sometimes wishes she’d just stick with ‘It’s Magic and Math and I’m Amazing’. That really was about all the explanation necessary. The important thing was _it worked_ and they now had a way to communicate with the rest of their team.

 

  _That was a bit of a relief really…_

 

 The idea of having no one but Jake to talk to for the entirety of this mission was a bit overwhelming. Not that the idea of a few days of him and Jake alone in a motel room wasn’t appealing,

 

_It was…_

 

Actually, it was kinda far _too_ appealing…

 

  _That was the problem._

 

 See, he’d kinda had a slight _(ridiculously huge)_ crush on the other Librarian from pretty close to the beginning...

 

When he’d first met Jake he’d purposely _NOT_ looked him over. He’d assumed he was just your typical close minded redneck and he really didn’t want to have that drama. Some overly macho straight dude freaking out just cause another guy glanced his way…

 

Then he’d spouted off something about 14th century art and quoted some obscure writing from Bronte.  It’d been so unexpected Ezekiel had to actually do a double take…And that was all it took,

 

He was hooked.

 

_Jake was just so unique:_

 

He really was quite handsome; he had a great smile and his eyes where _gorgeous_ … And, okay, the kinda gravelly voice with the southern twang was _WAY_ too appealing to be fair.

 

  _He was also brilliant._

 

 Ezekiel could listen to him talk for hours, he’d cover his interest well, but he listened to every word.  The man seemed to know everything about, well, _everything_ ; Art, history, literature, ancient cultures…the list just kept going. He’d even written several books and articles. Ezekiel had tracked down most everything he’d written. 

 

The man was just _fascinating._

 

 _Unfortunately_ Jake just didn’t see him the same way. He really got the feeling the guy just saw him as a kind of obnoxious trouble maker. He _kinda_ thought he saw him as a bit of a friend, _At least he hoped he did…_

 

But that was the most he figured he could really hope for from the other man.

 

 The idea of sharing a room with his unrequited crush for who knows how long was somewhat nerve wracking to say the least…

 

At least if he could talk to Cassie he could vent…She knew about his crush, had known for quite a while, actually.

 

He’d _thought_ he hid it fairly well, But Cassie was really perceptive and caught him staring just a bit too long a few too many times. She’d finally just came right out and asked him, it had totally thrown him.  He’d tried to deny it, rather worried how she’d take it ( _you really just could never tell with people sometimes)._

 

Cassie had just rolled her eyes, kind of amused telling him she was about as straight as he was.

 

After that they’d become fast friends, it was such a relief having someone to talk to, someone he didn’t feel he had to watch what he said around...

 

The only problem was she kinda seemed to get it in her head that he actually had a shot with Jake, _which was sweet,_ but pretty unrealistic. I mean, just because the guy did happen to be bisexual, it didn’t mean he was automatically interested in _every_ guy.

 

 Actually, he’d found that out not too long after Cassie and Estrella got together…He had tried to ask, as casually as he could, if Jake had a problem with that, two people of the same gender being together. Jake had got really defensive, clearly more than used to the tired assumption that he’s some close-minded bigot.

 

Apparently, the way Ezekiel asked he’d got the idea that **Ezekiel,** was the one who had a problem…

 

He’d been halfway through reading Ezekiel the riot act about those narrow-minded, backwards views when he’d stopped, mid rant shocked when Ezekiel burst out laughing. When he’d finally calmed down enough to caught his breath and explained it they’d all had a bit of a laugh.

 

Since then things had been better between them, Ezekiel didn’t feel like he needed to be so on guard around the guy, at least. Still, just because the guy was into other guys it didn’t mean he would be interested in _Ezekiel_.

 

He thought he had just as much of a shot with him as always,

_Which was none..._

 

Anyways...

 

“Sorry, it’s just crazy. Can you imagine what these people would think if they knew?” he asked Jake eagerly

 

Jake shook his head, rolling his eyes slightly.

 

“I imagine half would think you were talking about a show and ask when it aired, and the other’s would think you were insane and try to get you to the nearest psychiatrist…

 

Now can you _focus_ , just a bit?”

 

Ezekiel laughed, with a bit of a shrug

 

“Yeah, fine, I got it…I’ll stop having fun and be as boring as you…” he finished with a smirk and a wink

_Hey, he may not have a shot with the guy,_

_But that didn’t mean he couldn’t have a bit of fun teasing him…_

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Other-Other-Other-Other-Other

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

##  _ (Ezekiel) _

 

_Well, this was a bit harder than expected…_

 

They’d now been at the convention for nearly five hours and still hadn’t found any evidence _, of anything…._

 

No clues to the artifact,

 

No clues to the identity of whoever brought said artifact here,

 

And no clue to even finding out where to begin looking…

 

Ezekiel wondered briefly, if, in their world, Magic actually _helped_ them find the artifacts, because it just seemed totally different here.

 

Trying to find something odd and out of place at a scifi convention was like a never-ending game of ‘Where’s Waldo’; _only_ you don’t even know what ‘Waldo’ looks like and it’s just a sea of those weird red and white stripped hats and sweaters…

 

_Or something,_

 

He’d been here too long; there was a chance that he was slightly losing it…

 

_The novelty had long since worn off…_

 

I mean, really how do you even _begin_ to track down a mystical object in the middle of a Scifi convention?

 

It could be anything, being used by anyone…It was even hard to tell who was _actually_ affected by the artifact, and who was just role playing or in character,

 

Or just _WAY_ too into a show…

 

He’d been trying to talk to a guy for, like, half an hour who seemed _genuinely_ convinced he was a Wookie, complete with only speaking in growling sound effect kinda things. Then Wookie dude noticed the time and rushed out to make it home before his mom so she wouldn’t be mad at him for being late…

_The dude was older than Jake…_

 

After the Wookie thing, he and Jake had decided to separate and search on their own, figuring they could cover more ground that way…

 

Or maybe Jake was just getting fed up with his constant running commentary…

 

_He was going with the first option._

 

As of yet he hadn’t found anything of real significance. He’d talked to a few people who might have been affected, but he really wasn’t certain.

 

And it wasn’t like you could just look for someone messing with something odd; It seemed half the people here had some kind of prop or accessory or the like that could be an artifact. It’d really help a lot if they at least knew _WHAT_ the artifact was. They thought the most likely option would be a piece of jewelry or something similar, something small and unassuming.

 

_But here?_

 

You could be carrying anything and it not seem out of place.

 

He’d passed five people with sonic screwdrivers, about a dozen with some kind of 'ancient' looking weapons, no less than thirty ‘magic’ wands, and  more cheesy, ‘mystical’ trinkets, talismans, and charms than he could even begin to count.

 

It was all just so much…

 

He didn’t know if they would be able to solve this, it just seemed impossible

 

He shook his head slightly, coming back to himself.

 

_Forget that_

 

He was _Ezekiel Jones._

 

He was the best thief in the world; he worked in a magical library and protected the world from Magic objects that could wreak havoc.

 

He was a Librarian, **_damnit…_**

 

“Impossible’ was his normal day.

 

_Alright, he was back… onto the investigation,_

 

They hadn’t found anything, but as of yet they also haven’t really looked everywhere…

 

If whoever took the artifacts came to this convention purposefully (and they would have had to as you needed tickets and everything to get in) than they want to be here for a specific reason.

 

He kinda doubted someone could be so desperate to get into a scifi convention that they’d steal a magical artifact and hop universes just to attend…

 

_Though some of the people he met today made him less sure of that…_

 

 _Still,_ it was most likely they chose the event because it would cover whatever else they were working at. If they were doing something untoward, they wouldn’t be doing it out in the open, no matter how odd the ‘open’ was in this case…

 

That meant somewhere that not everyone could access.

 

That meant locked rooms, private rooms, places closed for maintenance, anywhere closed to the public.

 

Somewhere _(thankfully)_ away from the masses, more secluded…

 

He made his way to the outer part of the convention, looking for rooms or other areas that were closed or in some way inaccessible to the throng of Scifi fanatics. They had multiple events going throughout the week so not all the areas were in use at all times.

 

He actually completely missed the door on his first circuit around. The entrance was blocked by a big cheesy standing poster type thing of some show with lasers and spaceships and a lot of really crazy characters and every neon color imaginable…

 

_Hmm…._

 

_Seems promising..._

 

_The spot, not the show…that looked eye-scaringly horrible_

 

Ezekiel waited until he was sure no one was paying attention then slipped quietly around the sign, quickly picking the lock on the door and slipping into the room…

 

The room was a stark contrast to the noise, glaring colors and festivities of the outer part. It was very dimly lit, the only illumination coming from a few emergency lights scattered about that didn’t seem to quite reach the corners, leaving much of it shrouded in shadows.

 

It appeared to be a storage room… it was rather musty and filled with all kinds of random props, decorations, costumes and assorted things one might used to prepare for various events. The room seemed almost unsettling; it was dead silent, almost to an oppressive degree. He didn’t think the walls should be _that_ thick here;

 

 They must have been sound proof…

 

He kept searching, but tried to pick up the pace just a bit. He begin glancing through things, absently perusing a set of shelves filled to the brim with random books, statues and assorted knick knacks, but he kept glancing around somewhat nervously.

 

He slipped out his phone, quickly texting Jake, telling him where he was and that he may have found something, and to come meet him here. Not that he had, yet, but the creepy feeling _could_ be a sign of an artifact

 

_Plus, he really didn’t want to be in here alone for any longer than he had too…_

 

He did not like this room, he was alone, but it did not _feel_ like it; he felt like someone was watching him, like there were eyes on him…

 

It was like a horror movie, the moment when you’re waiting for the jump scare.

 

“Well, well, and just what might you be up to?”

 

Ezekiel startled, his heart skyrocketing, jumping about a foot in the air, before whirling around to see who had spoke.

 

He froze…

 

A man was leaning casually against the wall, right under one of the lights, illuminating him perfectly. He had his arms crossed in front of him and a slightly impish smirk directed at Ezekiel, one eyebrow raised.

 

The guy in question was fairly tall, probably just shy of six feet and, honestly, completely stunning

_Not really Ezekiel’s type in general, but still,_ **_wow_ ** _…_

 

His apparently jet black hair was tinted in such a way that it seemed to gradually go from black to a deep purple, finally ending in a rosy almost pink shade. It was fashioned into some kind of a slightly haphazard upswept style that Ezekiel didn’t even know how you would begin to start.

 

It also had a bit of a shimmer to it;

_Which seemed to be a running theme with this guy…_

 

He had strikingly attractive features. Deep brown eyes perfectly accented by seemingly expertly applied winged eyeliner and just the faintest bit of a pink shimmer, making his eyes seem even warmer…There seemed to be a dusting of iridescent something or other along his high cheekbones, highlighting them and making them even more defined than they already were.

 

The look was capped off by a light, silvery violet pink lipstick, _that really shouldn’t work for anyone_ , but it somehow just fit the man completely.

 

He had a wide assortment of jewelry on; A silvery cuff type thing on his ear, about four rings, (Ezekiel vaguely registered that his nails were also painted in colors that seemed to mimic his hair going from black to purple and pink, and still more shimmer) and no fewer than three necklaces.

 

 They were easy enough to see as he had about four buttons undone on the slim fitting, very expensive, _very_ patterned shirt he had over top of black pants that were far too fitted to be comfortable and trimmed with silvery studs down the sides and along the pockets… 

 

He also had on boots in the same rose color as the shirt that looked like they cost more than Ezekiel’s computer.

 

“Uhh…hi?” Ezekiel said, rather at a loss for words (That was about a first)

 

The man gave a bit of a warm chuckle, tilting his head,

 

“Hello dear, enjoying the convention?” he asked with a playful smirk

 

 _Dear? Did this guy think he was someone else or something?_  

 

“Yeah, it’s uh, it’s great, you?”

 

The sparkly man gave a slight shrug,

 

“Yes, I rather am…it really is something else. It does seem to be a bit much, though. I felt I needed a bit of a break so I decided to slip into a locked, inaccessible room for a few moments of peace from the chaos…” he tilted his head slightly, flashing a bit of a charming smile

 

“Imagine my surprise at finding someone already beat me to it…”

 

“Uhh…well…that’s…” Ezekiel trailed off, for once at a loss for an excuse, before something occurred to him…

 

“Hey, wait; how did _you_ get in here? The door _was_ locked and I kinda doubt they pay well enough at this place for an employee to be able to afford to dress like that; so what are YOU up to?” He finished, raising his own eyebrow right back

 

 _Two could play that game…_  

 

The man gave a somewhat surprised look, followed by a rather delighted laugh,

 

 “Oh, you’re _fun_ …”

 

He pushed himself away from the wall, casually moving closer

 

“I imagine I got in much the same way as you, sweetheart, I picked the lock”

 

_Seriously, did he think he was someone else?_

 

“Well then, you’re not supposed to be here either… maybe we just forget we saw each other?” Ezekiel offered, really hoping the guy would take him up on it…

 

There was something about the man’s gaze that was a bit disconcerting. It wasn’t like he was checking him out; it was more like he was sizing him up…Like he was reading everything,

 

Like he _could_ read everything,

 

He didn’t really know how to respond to that.

 

_Honestly, it kinda freaked him out…_

 

The man chuckled again, shaking his head slightly. He reached into his front pocket, pulling out a bright green laminated card. He held it up, waving it back and forth slightly.

 

“I’m afraid you are rather mistaken, darling… _This_ gives me access to all areas of the venue. I am allowed to go wherever I so choose. I imagine they may be a _bit_ touchy about the whole breaking and entering thing, but I’ve got myself out of far worse, this is really nothing…

 

 _For me,_ anyways…” he finished, raising his eyebrow, in a half playful, half challenging look

 

Ezekiel gulped slightly

_Okay, seriously, how the hell was he able to pull off intimidating so perfectly dressed like that?!_

 

_The guy was covered in purple, pink and sparkles for heaven’s sakes!_

 

Maybe _HE_ had the artifact… they did think it was possibly some kind of jewelry,

_Cause, that really narrows it down…_

 

“Sorry Jones, door took me a minute, you coulda just left it unlocked, you know.  So what’d you find…oh…h-hello” Jake started, losing the sentence midword when he caught sight of the other man.

 

“Well, _hello_ there” Sparkly man _(that’s what he’s going with)_ practically purred, glancing over Jake rather appreciatively

 

Jake blushed slightly

 

_Okay, that was enough…_

 

“Never mind, we’re just gonna go…” Ezekiel started, grabbing Jake’s arm and starting for the door

 

“Actually darling, I would really prefer it if you, or your very handsome friend, would be kind enough to explain just who exactly you are and what you gentlemen are up to…”

 

“Well, too bad…” Ezekiel snarked

 

And again with the chuckling…

 

_He wasn’t_ **_that_ ** _funny, damnit_

 

“Oh, sweetheart, you are just delightful”

 

“Okay, enough of that…stop calling me those things, it’s weird…”

 

He smirked again, giving a totally fake, innocent, too wide eyed look

 

“Well, what am I supposed to call you then?”

 

“I’m Ezekiel, he’s Jake, and we’re leaving” he finished grabbing Jakes arm again, somewhat harder

 

“Okay…good to know actual names to give the detective working the case with me… thanks so much, Ezekiel Jones”

 

He and Jake froze mid-step, Jake giving him an exasperated look,

 

_“Really Jones?!”_

 

“Sorry!”

 

“Well now, in all fairness, he just gave me the first name… you gave the last.

 

You slipped up just as much as he did” Sparkly man said with, what he could tell without even looking, was a smirk and eyebrow rise…

 

“Thanks” Ezekiel said sarcastically rolling his eyes

 

“No problem, sweetheart”

 

 _“Will you stop that?!”_ Ezekiel demanded whirling back around

 

“No, probably not; your reaction is far too fun…” he said with a cheeky grin and faint chuckle,

 

“Okay, listen here _Sparkles_ -” Ezekiel started but was cut off with a laugh that was bordering on a giggle

 

“ _Sparkles?_ Really?”

 

“Well I don’t know what to call you and it kinda fits and I thought it might piss you off, so…” he shrugged, glaring slightly

 

Sparkels laughed again, shaking his head, but the smile he got was friendlier

 

“Or you could just call me _Magnus_ , as that’s my name”

 

Ezekiel raised his own eyebrow slightly

 

“Is Sparkles really any worse?”

 

“You may not want to pull at that thread so much, _Ezekiel”_ Magnus came back in a slightly teasing tone

 

Jake chuckled slightly

 

Ezekiel glared

 

“Sorry, he does kinda have a point…”

 

Spark _-er_ , Magnus raised his eyebrow, turning to face Jake, tilting his head slightly,

 

“I don’t know; to me a unique name usually leads to a person being pretty unique and interesting themselves…I’ve never met another Magnus; I don’t recall an Ezekiel…

 

I’ve met at least three _Jakes_ this week.”

 

Jake looked flummoxed

 

It was a good look 

 

_Okay, maybe if he wasn’t hitting on Jake, this Magnus guy might be all right…_

 

Magnus shifted his focus back to Ezekiel, seeming more curious then accusing now at least.

 

“I’d really rather not get you guys in trouble, you really seem quite fun… but I am working a case at the moment and I cannot ignore a suspicious person just because I happen to find them entertaining.

 

So I really must ask you again, what were you doing in here?”

 

_Okay, he had this…_

 

“It’s fine, we’re Librarians” Ezekiel tried, confidently,

 

Jake rolled his eyes…

 

_Hey, buddy, either pitch in with ideas or keep your opinions to yourself_

 

It usually worked, anyways

 

Magnus gave a slightly sarcastic look

 

 “Okay, good for you, though you’re lying a bit, but I didn’t ask what your occupation was, I asked what you were doing here?”

 

_Okay, apparently in this universe that didn’t work so much…._

 

What else could it be?

 

_At a scifi convention for movies and shows…_

 

“What I mean is that’s what our _characters_ are called, were actors for a new show. It’s Called Librarians…it’s a kinda fantasy show with people called Librarians who track down Magic stuff that’s threatening the world.”

 

Jake’s eyes are wide and he is shaking his head frantically behind Magnus’s back indicating for him to shut up

 

_Once again, help or keep the commentary to yourself_

 

Magnus tilted his head slightly, looking vaguely interested

 

“Hmm…sounds fairly interesting…Too bad you are still lying…”

 

_Okay…he didn’t really want to go here but…_

 

He pointed vaguely towards Jake,

 

“He’s my boyfriend and we were just looking for a place we could have a few moments alone.”

 

Jake made a shocked, slightly strangled sound

 

Ezekiel rolled his eyes,

 

_The guy had no poker face whatsoever, maybe it was better that he wasn’t trying to help…_

 

Magnus gave a slight shrug, smirking faintly,

 

“Good attempt, believable, only you’d have absolutely left the door unlocked for him… care to try again?”

 

“We’re actually on-”

 

“Still lying… don’t even bother finishing the sentence, next?”

 

“See, I’m a huge fan of-”

 

“No you’re not…try again”

 

“Well _Jake_ is a fan of-”

 

“Nope, he’s not”

 

“ _Damnit!_ Stop that, it’s obnoxious as hell!”

 

“Hey, that was the truth… _not what I asked_ , but the truth at least. This really is quite fun…”

 

“So glad I could entertain you” Ezekiel snarked

 

“Lying again”

 

_“Damnit!”_

 

“Magnus, he’s just, I- well, I really don’t know how to finish that sentence that’s something other than _‘he’s Ezekiel’_ and shrugging…

 

Anyways, I don’t know why he’s trying so many crazy lies…We’re here for the same reason as you; we’re investigating the disappearances and strange behavior” Jake cut him off before he could make it any worse.

 

Magnus smiled, it was calculating again

 

“There it is, finally something truthful… So, I suppose if you are investigating you’re not a part of it...do you work with a department, or are you private investigators?” he asked curiously

 

“We’re PI’s; we were hired to investigate by the family of one of the people who disappeared…” Jake answered

 

Magnus nodded, looking somewhat concerned,

 

 “Then it is possible that you have made more progress than I have at this…I have yet to find anything indicating anything more than people leaving voluntarily. And really, Scifi fans getting carried away and too into their characters isn’t exactly hard evidence-”

 

Ezekiel nodded frantically

 

 “ _That’s what I said too!_ But it really does seem like something is going on here”

 

Jake nodded, stepping closer,

 

“We actually think that it’s possible that the people who have been affected may have came into contact with something…perhaps a toxin or something that is messing with their perception of reality.”

 

Magnus tilted his head, giving a slightly considering nod,

 

“Hmm… that is an interesting theory. Do you have any actual proof, as of yet?”

 

Ezekiel shook his head, groaning slightly

 

“No, I thought it’d be a lot easier than this; but trying to find someone acting weird or too involved at a Scifi convention is about impossible…it’d be harder finding someone NOT doing that”

 

Magnus shrugged,

 

“That is quite true. Truth be told I didn’t really think this would amount to much. I actually only took the case so a friend of mine would get to attend, as he had his heart set on it… He’s around here somewhere, dragging his boyfriend around to, no doubt, every last stand…” Magnus said with a dismissive wave towards the actual convention

 

“So, you have a team investigating here with you?” Jake asked

 

Magnus smiled, nodding faintly,

 

 “Yes, Head detective Alec Lightwood of the SBPD is here, helping with the investigation. I assumed if it turned out to be something of importance it would be better having the backup.  As Simon is currently busy fangirling over every last event, and Raphael is busy being _dragged_ to every last event, I needed a bit more help.

 

 Simon, the friend who wanted to attend so badly, is actually quite a skilled detective in his own right, _well_ , when he isn’t bounding around a scifi convention like an overly excited puppy.

 

Raphael is my best friend and helps me run my agency, he is also Simon’s boyfriend and I do believe he may be plotting at this very moment how to get back at me for getting him dragged around this place…

 

Though, he does plot quite often, so that’s not of much concern, Simon will distract him before it gets too bad…” Magnus finished rolling his eyes affectionately with a dismissive wave.

 

 “Your agency? So you’re a PI as well?” Ezekiel asked curiously, ignoring the slightly odd descriptions of his backup…Maybe, despite the sparkles, he was the grounded, reasonable one of the group.

 

“No, actually I’m a psychic”

 

_Or not..._

 

Jake and Ezekiel glanced at each other

 

“Oh, okay…uh… how long have you been a psychic? And do you happen to remember where all you’ve been today?” Jake asked

 

Magnus chuckled, rolling his eyes before reaching in his pocket and producing a small, deep purple, somewhat iridescent card, handing it to them.

 

“I’m not delusional or being affected by whatever is affecting the other patrons…I own Enigmatic Investigations; it is my Psychic Detective Agency. It is completely legitimate. I work as a civilian consultant for the SBPD as well as accept cases brought to me privately”

 

Ezekiel looked over the card, kind of impressed;

 

_The guy definitely had flare…_

 

“Now, as you gentlemen are a rather long way from home, perhaps you would like to team up, maybe share information?” Magnus asked quirking his eyebrow curiously,

 

Ezekiel startles slightly, nearly dropping the card, wondering briefly if there was a way to block psychic energy or whatever…He knew they had things at the library, but they didn’t bring anything with them.

 

 _They didn’t think they’d need it_. _It was a universe devoid of Magic, didn’t ‘psychic powers’ fall under that category?_

 

“H-how do you know we’re not from here?”

 

He raises his eyebrow yet again

 

“ _Psychic_ , darling…Though, in this case, your accents rather do give it away” he finishes with a cheeky grin and wink

 

Ezekiel bursts out laughing, shaking his head,

 

  _Oh man, he can’t believe he fell for that_

 

 He glanced over at Jake, who shrugged slightly. Ezekiel turned back to Magnus.

 

“You know, I think that might be a good idea; the more help we have on this, hopefully the faster we can get this solved and get back home.”

 

Magnus gave a beaming smile

 

“Wonderful; now, why don’t we get out of here and regroup, I don’t think we are likely to solve the case hiding in a storage room.”

 

With that he turned starting back the way they came,

 

“So, you guys said something about a toxin…” Magnus began as they made their way back to the door…

 

_None of the three noticed the slight flicker of movement in one of the darkened corners,_

_Or the faint glimmer of eyes tracking their movements…_

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
> 
> ** ______________End Of Chapter/Notes___________ **
> 
> *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
> 
> Okay, so fair warning were gonna ramp up to the crazy kinda fast
> 
> Just remember, I have a fix, I promise
> 
> {My favorite parts of this is my last line cause it kinda creeps me out, Ezekiel’s run of attempted lies, and ‘Sparkels’}
> 
> So what do you guys think?
> 
>  
> 
>  


	5. So, You’re Even Lying to Yourself Now…

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ** ****Don’t forget I added a Second Part to Chapter 4 and you don’t want to miss it**** **
> 
> Jake and Ezekiel get some more information…
> 
> Magnus learns a few things…
> 
> Though whether  it’s that Magic actually exists somewhere, or that Ezekiel and Jake need a psychiatrist is up for debate
> 
> Jace teases Alec about Magnus; because of course he does…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** Notes: **
> 
> Okay, sorry this took so long to get up…
> 
> but there’s a reason for that
> 
>  This kinda ended up with **_four_** parts so it might actually Technically count as _two_ chapters… but oh well, I like it anyways
> 
> Hope you guys do too…

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

 “This was the _BEST_ day ever! Thank you SO much for getting me in!” Simon exclaimed as soon as they entered the shop, bounding over and hugging Magnus tightly, nearly knocking him over in his enthusiasm

 

Magnus chuckled,

 

“It was nothing, sweetheart, I’m glad you’re enjoying it…” he said before shifting his gaze to Raphael,

 

“And you? Enjoying the convention, darling?”

 

Alec snickered a bit, glancing over to see his reaction.

 

Raphael gave Magnus a glare that would have anyone else backing away slowly, or at the very least putting a bit of distance between them and Raph…

_Kinda like Alec was doing right now,_

 

Magnus just laughed 

 

Simon rolled his eyes slightly, before throwing his arm around Raphael’s shoulders,

 

“ _Actually_ he’s hated pretty much all of it. Well, except the Doctor Who booth and tormenting Jace, but he’s been amazing…hasn’t complained once” he finished beaming, before leaning over and kissing Raphael’s cheek.

 

Raphael smiled, slipping his arm around Simon and shrugging

 

“It’s fine amor…I know how much you wanted to come. I am really glad you got to; and that I got to see how happy it made you.”

 

Simon beamed

 

“Well, I’m really glad that you went too; it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun without you; even though I know you didn’t like it.”

 

He blushed kinda sheepishly

 

“I know how much I can get carried away with this…it was a lot today…”

 

Raphael smiled gently, shaking his head

 

“It’s okay, I can tell how much you loved it; it’s more than worth a bit of annoyance seeing you so happy.”

 

“Aww…so adorable” Magnus singsonged

 

Raphael rolled his eyes, but didn’t look nearly as annoyed as he had; Alec breathed a sigh of relief, before turning to Magnus.

 

“So, you said you found something interesting?”

 

Magnus nodded eagerly

 

“Yes; _well_ , more someone…I was investigating and saw a couple guys who seemed out of place; they weren’t really looking at the booths and seemed about as excited about the convention as you and Raph.”

 

Alec chuckled slightly,

 

“So I followed, keeping an eye on them. They were bickering and snarking, they didn’t notice me…One was around 5'11” medium brown hair, rather nice blue eyes, kind of a country boy vibe, complete with a southern accent.

 

The other was about 5’8” Korean, though judging by the accent he is from Australia, He was actually pretty cute, _not my type_ , but cute just the same. He seemed much more enthusiastic than the other; he was laughing and smiling, seemed a lot less uptight then his partner.

 

They seemed to be looking for something, and they were questioning some of the patrons…Seemed to be aware of the case, I was curious so I stayed on them.

 

At one point, they split up, I decided to follow the Australian, as, well, quite frankly, he seemed more interesting. I thought of texting you to follow the other, but he was rather quick and I didn’t want to lose him. He looked around, gravitating towards the less in use areas.

 

For a moment I thought he spotted me trailing him as he ducked behind a large, garish standing poster, but when I glanced behind it, there was actually a door…It was locked; I knew he hadn’t come out so he must have entered the room.”

 

Alec nodded consideringly

 

“Hmm, that is pretty suspicious, we’ll have to go and check it out tomorrow…” 

 

Magnus got a slightly guilty look

 

“Actually, we don’t…I already did; it’s a storage room, really rather creepy, way too quiet and unsettling.”

 

“So you went back to check the room?” Alec asked curiously

 

“Umm…Back?” he said, sheepishly

 

Alec stilled

 

“You didn’t _actually_ break into the room while the suspicious person you were tracking was also, clearly in the locked room-That he _obviously_ broke into as well, did you?”

 

Magnus shrugged slightly

 

Alec groaned, shaking his head

 

“I thought you agreed not to take exceedingly crazy risks?”

 

“ _Oh_ , it wasn’t that crazy, I was just curious and he most definitely didn’t seem dangerous…”

 

“But you couldn’t be sure, and in a locked room-” 

 

Raphael shook his head, cutting Alec off

 

“Alec _it’s fine_ , Mags can handle just about anything, if the man was really a threat Magnus would have noticed something…So, what happened next?” he asked,

 

“I slipped into the room. He was searching for something, going through a set of shelves. He seemed quite anxious; he kept glancing around nervously, though as I said, the room was rather unsettling. In any case, I finally got too curious and asked him what he was doing,”

 

 He paused, chuckling a bit before continuing,

 

“I actually ended up startling the poor dear quite a bit. I questioned him, then his friend came in, apparently he’d texted, saying he found something. He got quite defensive when he thought for a moment I was flirting with his friend, I do believe there’s something there; though they don’t seem to acknowledge it…they may need a bit of a push-”

 

Alec gave an exasperated sigh, raising his eyebrow,

 

“So, just so we’re clear; you’re in a room with two strange, suspicious people who obviously broke into a locked room and are in some way involved in a case where people are apparently disappearing…

 

And you’re main focus is on them apparently having crushes on each other…

 

Right?”

 

Magnus rolled his eyes before putting his hand on Alec’s shoulder, squeezing lightly, giving him an affectionate smile

 

“Darling, lighten up, it’s fine… and that is not my _main_ focus, I just found it interesting…

 

In any case; they’re names are Ezekiel Jones, and Jake Stone. I purposely irritated Ezekiel to make them slip up so they thought they’d accidentally told me their names, but I’d heard while I was tailing them…

 

Ezekiel tried lying quite a bit about what they were doing; It was really quite entertaining. Jake was more honest, but he wasn’t being entirely truthful either, though I let them believe I bought it…

 

He told me they were PI’s investigating and hired by the family of one of the people who disappeared. They _are_ investigating, but are not PI’s, though they do believe the disappearance are true.

 

I do not know what exactly their motivation is, but I believe they are not involved in any of the disappearances or odd behavior, though they know more than they are letting on. They seem to think the patrons are being affected by some kind of toxin that is messing with their perception of reality.

 

It’s a bit unorthodox, but worth looking into.

 

In actuality I wonder if they may in fact themselves be affected by whatever it is. Some of the lies Ezekiel told he actually believed parts of them, most of which didn’t really make sense. I wonder if whatever it is can in some way make them believe their own lies?

 

In any case I do believe it would be beneficial to keep an eye on them, I asked them if they would like to collaborate on the case, to share information.  I think if I can gain their trust I could find out what they know about this and perhaps determine if they are, in fact, affected as well. They’re coming by the agency tomorrow in order to go over what we have so far, I figure I can get more info on them then.

 

 In the mean time, Simon and Raphael? I’d like you to keep investigating. I know Simon put in for a bit of vacation time for this week so he could attend more of the events at the convention, if you guys don’t mind?”

 

 _“So we get to go back tomorrow!?”_ Simon exclaimed excitedly

 

“Great…”Raphael said, trying to fight off a groan…

 

Magnus chuckled, giving Simon an affectionate smile,

 

“Yes, dear, though if you could try to stay on the lookout for anything suspicious…”

 

Simon nodded quickly

 

“Of course, no problem… also, since I’m more used to this kind of crowd maybe I’ll be more likely to notice something that’s not quite right.”

 

Magnus grinned brightly nodding

 

“Wonderful, thank you darling.”

 

“We’ll go separately, I want to talk to Jace, ask him again. Now that he had some time to think and we’re more certain something’s going on he may be able to think of something…” Alec says

 

Magnus tilts his head curiously

 

“Darling, I appreciate that, but you have to work tomorrow…”

 

Alec shook his head

 

“Not anymore, I texted Luke, gave him a heads up, explained some of what’s going on and that while it’s not yet an _official_ case I want to look into it with you, just to be sure. He agreed, so I can help with this all the way through. Luke said to just call in if we need any extra assistance, so we’re good.”

 

Magnus smiled, relieved

 

_Now they have the entire team in on this. With the four of them he had no doubt they could handle anything._

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Other-Other-Other-Other-Other

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

##  _ (Ezekiel) _

 

“-llo, wa’s that” Ezekiel answered the phone ineloquently around a yawn, blinking sleepily to see the screen

 

“Hi! Good morning!” Cassie chirped happily,

_That was just way too much energy this early_

 

“Mmm…Cas, it’s not even six yet-”

 

“I know but this couldn’t wait, where’s Jake?” she asked eagerly, seemingly trying to peer around the phone.

 

He turned the phone so she could see the other man

 

“Here Cassie, what is it?” Jake asked sleepily

 

“ _Whoa_ , okay well, first off don’t spin the phone like that, it’s making me dizzy, can you guys move closer together so I can talk to both of you, we have some news.”

 

Ezekiel sighed, before shrugging and getting up, moving over to the other bed, sitting next to Jake, before turning the screen to face them, being sure they were both in frame…Jake looked kinda out of it, he was kind of staring at Ezekiel, uncomprehendingly,

 

Must still be pretty tired, neither of them were really morning people.

 

“This better?” he asked

 

She nodded happily

 

“Yeah, definitely; like I said we have some news.So, you know how that universe is totally devoid of Magic, right?”She asked eagerly 

 

They nodded,

 

“Yeah, but I wanted to ask you, are psychic powers considered Magic? See at the convention we kinda ran into this psychic and he seems to know a lot. I was thinking it could possibly be the artifact, but then he has a whole business and everything, so it couldn’t have just been in the past few days…

 

Could there actually _be_ psychics here?”

 

She gave a faint shrug,

 

“Hmm…I don’t really know, psychic phenomena isn’t necessarily based entirely in Magic, so it could be possible I suppose, probably not on the level we get here, but it could be…Though none of the artifacts are used for psychic abilities-”

 

Ezekiel sat up straighter

 

“ _Wait_ , you know what artifact we’re looking for!?” he exclaimed

 

She nodded fervently

 

“Yeah, see, like I was saying, there’s no magic in the universe. Because of that I was able to run a few algorithms and integrate them with a few divining spells and find the traces of the magic used in that universe.”

 

Jake laughed, shaking his head

 

“Cassie, you’re a genius”

 

She grinned, before sobering a bit

 

“Thanks Jake, but the only thing is…this is actually far worse than we had originally thought…” She trailed off, glancing over to Jenkins

 

“What do you mean?” Ezekiel asked, concerned

 

Cassie sighed faintly,

 

“We we’re mistaken before; there isn’t one artifact, there are actually _four_ …

 

 **Meredith’s Charm;** Meredith was a witch that lived around the turn of the 20th century. She took issue with peoples satirizing of All Hollow’s Eve, feeling that it was making light of a sacred day. She decided to retaliate, and had a rather unique since of humor, creating a charm. It looks like a small blood red crystal, and transforms people into whatever they happen to be dressed as.

 

We believe that that universe is making it not quite as powerful, that is why they are just _convinced_ they are these characters, rather than actually turning into them…

 

So that’s a bit better anyway.

 

The next one is **Apate’s talisman:** Apate was the personified spirit of deceit, deception, guile and fraud– The talisman is a black sapphire, it makes the holder almost irresistibly magnetic, and dulls people’s senses and intuition, it works on all but the strongest minds…Once again, it may not be as powerful there, but it will still work.

 

But that’s not the _worst_ of it

 

We have found out why the people have been disappearing,

 

  **Lorelei’s Feather** is also present…

 

Lorelei was a succubus and a Legendary Siren. Her feather allows the holder to actually take a person’s essence’s, their strengths, abilities, talents, everything. It works best during the full moon, which doesn’t happen for another two days, but I would imagine the person who took the artifacts is using this time to catch those who’s abilities he desires, keeping them subdued until the right time…”

 

Ezekiel and Jake just sat there for a moment, blinking uncomprehendingly, finally Ezekiel shook his head faintly,

 

“Wow, that is way worse…Guys, how are we going to handle this on our own?” Ezekiel asked, glancing from the people on the screen to Jake beside him.

 

The weight of the mission suddenly really hitting him, making him feel small, and rather helpless. Jake put his hand on his shoulder, reassuringly,

 

“We’ll find a way” he assured quietly

 

“You think?” Ezekiel asked, glancing over at him

 

Jake nodded

 

“Hey, at the end of the day, it’s an artifact; it’s the same thing we do every day.”

 

Ezekiel smiled gratefully, leaning a bit closer

 

“Thanks”

 

“Sure”

 

Jenkins cleared his throat, startling them slightly; they looked back at the screen

 

“Actually, Mr. Stone, that isn’t all of it”

 

Ezekiel groaned

 

“ _Oh come on!_  We already have an artifact that steals peoples souls or abilities or whatever, how much worse can it get!?” Ezekiel demanded exasperatedly

 

“Zeke, you know never to ask that” Jake groaned, rolling his eyes

 

“I’m afraid worse still…There is one other artifact that was taken, whatever they used to cross universes. We can see its magical signature, but don’t know what it is; it’s nothing we’ve ever cataloged before,

 

But it is by far the most powerful thing in that universe at the moment…The signature looks similar to the Janis compass, but quite a bit more powerful.

 

 Also, we do have an idea who, or more accurately, _what_ the thief is”

 

“We’re really not gonna like this, are we?” Jake sighed, somewhat resigned

 

Jenkins nodded apologetically,

 

“Afraid not, Mr. Stone… the thief is a warlock.”

 

“Ah, crap” Ezekiel muttered

 

“So, not only do we have four powerful magical artifacts to track down and grab…We also have a person who can wield their own magic as well?”

 

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, they’re not a very powerful warlock?” Cassie ventures hopefully

 

“How do you mean?” Jake asks

 

“Well, generally warlocks wouldn’t bother with artifacts and such. _In fact,_ most would see the mere suggestion as anything from a poor joke to a grievous insult.

 

We believe that the reason he took the artifacts and transported to a non-magical universe was a rather desperate grab for power that he simply doesn’t have a chance for here. He felt that if he was the only magical being in existence then he could gain the power and acclaim he is unable to achieve here.”

 

“Oh, _great_ ; so we have a vaguely delusional, megalomaniac warlock with _four_ powerful magical artifacts, and an inferiority complex…that makes me feel better.” Ezekiel snarked, rolling his eyes

 

_Really how did they end up with this?_

 

They were in an alternate universe, tracking down a crazy warlock who’s set on stealing people’s abilities with the aid of a feather from a siren, and becoming the ‘most powerful being in the world’

 

_When did his life become a comic book?_

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

Magnus sighed slightly as he busied himself around his office waiting for his new contacts to join him. In truth Magnus was rather relieved Alexander would be working the case with official clearance. This did seem to be more than he’d initially thought and having the departments backing, as well as Alexander by his side, made him far more confident.

 

Actually he really was looking forward to seeing Ezekiel again; the kid really seemed quite fun. He was snarky, quite clever and had an excellent sense of humor. It might be rather fun working a case with him…

_At least it would be if they were honest about their evidence,_

 

He had a feeling they knew more about this than they were letting on…

 

Magnus hoped, if he could gain their trust then they would be more forthcoming with their information. He was pulled from his musings when he heard the door open. He glanced towards the front, seeing them standing in the entrance, glancing around. Magnus sent off a quick text to Alec before moving into the room, putting on a beaming smile.

 

“Good morning, boys… so wonderful to see you again” he said chipperly, before slowing, tilting his head slightly

 

“Morning Magnus” 

 

“Hey”

 

“Ezekiel, are you quite alright?” he asked concerned

 

The young man seemed far more subdued than he was yesterday. Ezekiel shook his head slightly, putting on a, totally fake, bright smile, 

 

“No, nothing’s wrong, just not much of a morning person, ready to go over the case?” 

 

“Sure, sweetheart…would you like me to start, or would you like to?” 

 

“You can” he said with a shrug

_Yeah something was definitely up with the guy_

 

“ _Well_ , truth be told I don’t know a whole lot…I was hired by the event coordinator because he didn’t want to get the police involved if it was unnecessary. At least that’s what he said, in truth I thought he was using this as an excuse to meet me, he mentioned that he’d read all about me and my cases, and seemed rather enamored, he seemed to be a bit of a fan of mine. I talked to nearly twenty people at the convention who seemed to believe that they were, in fact their characters. I didn’t see any marks of deception in their actions, so either they are sociopaths, or they were telling the truth,

 

I am going to assume it is the latter.

 

 As of yet there are at least three people that are possibly missing, but the only evidence of that is two people didn’t meet up with their friends as they said they would and an actor blew off an appearance. None of which is really hard evidence…

 

In all honesty the most intriguing evidence of an actual case I found yesterday was _you_ ” he finished with a smirk.

 

“How are we evidence?” Ezekiel asked uncertainly

 

Magnus chuckled

 

He’d really meant to approach this a different way, but decided this tactic would be the best way to the truth

 

_At least the boy didn’t seem so down now…_

 

“Well, darling let’s see; you turned up at the scene, lied about, well _everything_ , and you most definitely know more than you have let on as of yet, seems like evidence of something unusual going on.”

 

“Well, like I said we-” Jake started

 

Magnus rolled his eyes

 

“You lied too dear, at least _his_ we’re entertaining…You we’re partially truthful; but then again, so was Ezekiel.

 

So here’s how this is going to go, I’m going to tell you everything I know about you guys, and you can fill in what I’m missing, as a lot doesn’t make sense…

 

Alright?” He finished with a smirk leaning against the front desk casually, raising an eyebrow

 

 “You know, you do that eyebrow thing a lot, like an annoying amount. And do you actually _practice_ posing?” Ezekiel snarked

 

_Ah, good, he was back…_

 

 Magnus chuckled, giving a careless shrug,

 

“What can I say? I’m inquisitive, can’t help it, and no, guess I’m just naturally graceful” he gave a cheeky wink

 

Ezekiel rolled his eyes

 

Magnus continued;

 

“You guys _are_ investigating, but you are _not_ PI’s

 

You weren’t hired by any of the families of people missing, as their hasn’t been any reported missing to the SBPD; that would be the first stop for any panicked family member.

 

You do believe the patrons are being affected by something, but it’s not a ‘toxin’.  From what I've observed I’d gather its some type of object, which doesn’t make sense, but that is the truth…

 

  _To you,_ in any case.

 

You are most definitely not from here, and are quite guarded as to where exactly that is, as you were so shocked by my assertion. You weren’t lying about being Librarians, but there was something off about the way you said it,

 

Also, you expected a different reaction from me to that assertion, which was rather curious.

 

You two have been working together for a few years; which is rather intriguing, as I really cannot fathom a career field that would employ a cowboy with advanced degrees in art and history and a world class thief…”

 

They both looked totally shocked and on the verge of panic

 

Ezekiel let out a forced, _obviously_ fake laugh

 

“Good story, you’re very creative…I don’t know how you’d come up with something so crazy” he tried somewhat desperately 

 

Magnus grinned, stepping closer

 

“That is true enough; though in all honesty I don’t think I could come up with something this intriguing on my own. So, would you guys like to try the actual truth, now?”

 

“Uhh…it’s kind of top secret” Ezekiel ventures hopefully

 

“Ah, so, you are with some government team?”

 

Ezekiel nodded quickly,

 

“Yes…We’re with Interpol, that’s why all the lies. So you see how we couldn’t tell you the truth”

 

Magnus smiled tilting his head slightly

 

_Ezekiel was beginning to hate that look; it meant nothing good_

 

“You are still lying, sweetheart; you don't work for Interpol...At least you _no longer_ do. I believe you worked for them for a while, but left, I’m guessing they began to ask more of you than you felt comfortable doing.

 

Indecently, that took a great deal of courage, I respect that immensely. By the way; I have not yet told Alexander about your less than legal past…Since there is no record, that means you either have never been caught or it was expunged during your government work, and, as I believe it was more the challenge than anything malicious, I left that part out.”

 

“Uhh…thanks” he said cautiously,

 

“No problem sweetheart; so, care to try again?”

 

“We work for-”

 

_“Lying”_

 

“We’ve been sent b-”

 

“Still lying”

 

“I wanted to see t-”

 

“Nope, next”

 

“W-”

 

“Uh uh, still not the truth”

 

_“_ **_Damnit_ ** _! Didn’t I tell you how annoying that is!?”_

 

“Yes, yes you did; next attempt?”

 

Ezekiel groaned, glaring slightly at Magnus

 

“What’s it matter, you wouldn’t believe me anyways!” he snapped

 

“Ezekiel, sh-” Jake began,

 

“Try me” Magnus challenged, leaning forward, smirking

 

“Fine-”

 

“Zeke will you j-”

 

“We’re travelers from another universe, sent by an immortal former Knight of the round table, trying to track down a bunch of magical artifacts being wielded by a megalomaniac warlock, who apparently stole them and came here in an attempt to use his pretty limited magic abilities and the artifacts to become the most powerful being in this universe!”

 

Ezekiel completely froze, eyes wide slapping his hand over his mouth

 

Magnus just stared in shock

 

“Uhh…well…t-that’s rather unexpected” he stammered, taking a couple steps back, glancing towards the door, gauging how quickly he could get around the, clearly deranged, men.

 

Jake covered his eyes shaking his head resignedly before taking a deep breath and looking back at Magnus

 

“Okay, Uhh…don’t freak out…it’s fine” he said holding his hands up placatingly

 

Despite the situation, Magnus managed a sarcastic look

 

“Oh, yeah, it’s totally _fine_. I’m alone with two people who genuinely believe they’re travelers from another universe and on an apparent magical quest to try to stop a deranged warlock…

 

Yep, that is _totally_  fine” he finished somewhat frantically

 

“Okay, let me try again…” Ezekiel started slowly

 

“Sure, go ahead, let’s see where this goes” Magnus said, with a rather exaggerated, dramatic wave, perching on the edge of the desk

 

_This should be interesting…_

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

 “You really haven’t seen _anything_ suspicious here?” Alec asked Jace once again

 

“Dude, I already said I haven’t, been too busy…” he said glancing around the venue, smirking at a relatively pretty girl in a tight blue dress and light blue hair, winking

 

He didn’t have to be in costume today so he was really scanning the crowd

 

Alec rolled his eyes slightly

 

_Eh, at least here he wasn’t hitting on Alec’s coworkers_

 

“Well, it seems something weird is going on, we’re on the case officially now, so just kind of keep an eye out, okay?”

 

Jace rolled his eyes before getting a bit of a devious grin

 

Alec fought back a groan,

 

 _That look was never good_   

 

“Yeah, sure…You know, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me when you actually hooked up with Magnus”

 

 _“What!?”_ Alec squawked

 

“Oh come on, you’re not even hiding it anymore…”

 

“Wha-We’re not! We didn’t, you don’t…that’s not… _oh just stop_ , nothing happened between us, you jackass” he finally grumbled 

 

“Ha! _Yeah right!_ What, you think I’m blind?” Jace scoffed,

 

“What do you mean?” 

 

“Dude, seriously? He was literally _hanging_ on your arm, He dragged you away from a chance to see me totally embarrassed, _and you let him!”_

 

“Hey! That was for your benefit!”

 

“Uh huh, you guys apparently have a standing date now for Thursdays, and it didn’t sound like a new thing.”

 

“It’s not a date! Raphael and Simon are gonna be there too!”

 

Jace snorted, rolling his eyes again

 

“What, you’ve never heard of a double date?”

 

“It’s not a-”

 

“Dude, I heard about the car incident”

 

“It wasn-”

 

“Oh please; you were caught fooling around with him in a car.”

 

 “We weren’t ‘fooling around’! We were just kissing… _And it was a cover for a CASE!”_

 

“Yeah, never heard that one before” Jace chuckled sarcastically rolling his eyes, shaking his head faintly,

 

“Jace it’s not-”

 

“Alec, come on, if your gonna lie, at least come up with something that’s somewhat believable” he said, still scanning the crowd

 

Alec groaned

 

“Magnus and I are not-”

 

“Yeah, you are, save it dude, I’m so not buying it. I’ll keep it secret though if that’s what you’re worried about.” he said with a grin

 

“Right, like you could keep a secret” Alec muttered

 

“Hey I could totally…” He started trailing off, looking over towards one of the booths and slipping into a flirty smile

 

Alec glanced over in the same direction

 

A man was standing there; he was fairly attractive; Tall, tan, with dark hair and blue eyes, in a very expensive looking suit.

 

Alec looked away, rolling his eyes.  

 

Jace turned back to him with a grin, slapping him on the back

 

“Don’t worry Alec, I got you covered, your secrets safe with me… Maybe now you’ll lighten up some.

 

Talk to you later” he said glancing over again

 

“Or tomorrow…” he said with a wink before moving away from Alec and heading towards the well dressed man.

 

Alec shook his head slightly. His brother really was scantless;

 

_At least it distracted him from him and Magnus…_

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
> 
> ** ______________End Of Chapter/Notes___________ **
> 
> *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
> 
>  
> 
> Okay, so this chapter kinda got away from me and ended up with more than I meant, but I like it anyhow…
> 
> The artifacts took me forever cause I kinda wanted to come up with something plausible sounding for the librarians universe; also for a bit I kinda got the artifacts for this show mixed up with the artifacts for Warehouse 13 and now I really want to rewatch that show.
> 
>  
> 
> The only parts I actually had planned was Jace teasing Alec, and Magnus finding out about Magic, but I just settled on the artifacts (the first one I may have got a bit desperate because I’m pretty sure I got the idea from a Halloween episode of the Simpsons—It’s official, I watch WAY too much TV)  and wanted to give them something to actually look for…
> 
> And I had just planned to recap Magnus telling the others about Ezekiel and Jake, but I started writing and the scene was done before I knew it
> 
> And it gave me a chance for a bit of Saphael, so I couldn’t pass it up…
> 
> _What do you guys think so far?_


	6. Magnus REALLY Is Quite Magical…

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezekiel tells Jenkins and Cassie about this crazy psychic detective ‘Magnus Bane’
> 
> Meanwhile, Raphael is reaching his limit at the convention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay...Here we go...

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Other-Other-Other-Other-Other

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**_(Ezekiel)_ **

_Oh man, he screwed up SO bad…_

 

He couldn’t believe he blurted out the entire mission to Magnus. He usually had a cool head and was pretty unshakable, but the guy seemed to know exactly how to push him to get him off his game. 

 

_Also the psychic thing kinda freaked him out…_

 

He really wasn’t sure what to make of it. Magnus hadn’t known about the other universe/magic thing, but he seemed to know about everything else. He’d known Jake and him had worked together for years,

 

About his past, both the illegal and classified parts,

 

About Jakes History and Arts degrees,

 

He seemed to be able to tell before someone even opened their mouth if they were going to be lying or not.

 

_It was unsettling…_

 

After the initial reveal they’d just tried explaining it in a way that sounded less insane…

 

They’d explained about the Librarians and the Library,

 

About magic and other universes,

 

 About the artifacts they were searching for and what they knew about the warlock (Which was basically that they were obsessed with attaining power and probably had a bit of an inferiority complex),

 

 They’d concluded asking him to keep this from his team as they didn’t really know what effect the knowledge of real magic would have on this universe. It didn’t go too well and Ezekiel thought he was just humoring them, thinking they were affected by the artifact.  

 

Ezekiel didn’t need any psychic powers to know he wasn’t going to keep it all a secret. However, if he really thought they were affected and delusional, then the others may think that as well… Hopefully that’d be all the cover they needed.

 

 Still, they really needed to tell Jenkins, he might know if that would be enough.

 

_This was not gonna be a fun conversation…_

 

Jake had actually been rather nice about it…after his initial annoyance at his slip up.  He’d even offered to split the blame, so it wouldn’t all fall on him.

 

 Ezekiel had waived him off. The offer was really sweet, but this was his screw up and he needed to face up to it…

 

_What? He was trying something new_

 

He took a deep breath before hitting the button to call Cassie and Jenkins.

 

 “Hey guys! Did you find something already? That was quick…I knew you could do it” she said cheerfully

 

“Uhh…no, not exactly…I kinda had a hypothetical question for Jenkins?” he hedged

 

 Jenkins groaned shaking his head

 

 “What did you do?” he asked deadpan

 

“Okay, uh…so theoretically, what effect would it have if someone from this universe maybe kinda found out who we were and why we're  here?”

 

 “What? How would that happen? Who would guess anything this crazy?” Cassie asked confused

 

 “W-well…it IS a scifi convention, some of the people are really imaginative and creative and it almost sounds like a show or comic book plot or something, it’s not that big of a leap…

 

Also, I may have kind of…told him.”

 

_“You what!  How much of it!?”_

 

 “Uhh…like all of it”

 

__“Why would you do that!?”_ _

 

 “He tricked me!”

 

 “How did someone trick you into telling them everything?”

 

 “ _Oh, it’s that psychic guy I asked you about!_ He could tell we were lying and he called us out on it. Then he ran down everything he knew, which was really an uncomfortable amount.

 

He knew we weren’t PI’s, he knew we worked together, about my past and Jakes degrees and a bunch of other stuff and it was creepy and it threw me.  He seems to be able to read everything and he is working with the police investigating the case.

 

 _Man_ , it’s like he can tell before someone even starts talking if they’re going to be lying or not and he kept calling me out about it and it was _really_ annoying because he kept interrupting me to say I was lying and to try again. And he just seemed to think it was funny to make a game of seeing how annoyed he could get me.

 

 So I finally just kind of blurted it out before I realized it…”

 

 He trailed off sheepishly shrugging

 

 Jake leaned forward into frame, shaking his head slightly

 

 “Jenkins it really wasn’t Ezekiel’s fault; this guy really is something else. It was creepy how much he knew, I kinda think the psychic thing must be true, because I couldn’t see another way he’d know all that…If that’s the case then he’d probably have been able to piece together most of it, anyways.

 

 Also, he is working the case, and he still agreed to collaborate with us on it. I think he’s convinced we’re actually affected, somehow convinced of our own lies. I think we may be able to use that, if we can keep him thinking that then maybe he’ll just chalk up the entire crazy magic/alternate universe thing to a delusion and leave it at that…” 

 

Jenkins shook his head slightly

 

 “We can only hope Mr. Stone…I don’t know what affect the knowledge would have on that world, and we probably don’t want to find out.”

 

Jake and Ezekiel nodded

 

 Ezekiel grinned

 

 “Hey, at least it had one positive effect. It actually threw that smug, obnoxious ‘Magnus Bane’ off his game; I kinda get the feeling that doesn’t really happen too often.”

 

 “Wait, wait, wait; _Magnus Bane?!”_ Jenkins demanded, suddenly looking far more alarmed

 

“Uhh…yeah? That’s the psychic’s name. Why, does it mean something?”

 

 Jenkins truly looked nervous now

 

_That was not good, Jenkins never looked nervous_

 

 “Okay, listen; you guys need to be _very_ careful from here on out. Do not anger him and, _for god’s sakes_ , do DO NOT confront him about anything…do you understand?”

 

 “Jenkins what’s-” Ezekiel began

 

 “Magnus Bane is one of, if not the _most,_ powerful warlocks in our universe.”

 

“Well, I mean this can’t be him though right? We’re in a totally different universe, and if he’s that powerful you’d of spotted his magic signature or whatever, right?

 

This must be the Magnus from this world…

 

Which, isn’t any _less_ weird.” Ezekiel finished, somewhat confused

 

“I don’t know; I said there were only a few _artifacts_ that could traverse universes, but there are also a few extremely powerful beings that are said to be able to. Though there’s no proof, it is widely believed that Magnus has this ability and he is easily one of the most powerful…

 

If he can do that, covering his magic signature would be nothing,

 

Especially if he knew you were Librarians and didn’t want you aware of his presence.”

 

Ezekiel got a bit of a chill at that,

 

 “Uhh…w-why would he not want us to know? You said the warlock we’re chasing isn’t really powerful, like, at all.  Do you think this Magnus may be covering for him or something?”

 

“It may be possible, but probably not. He may be somewhat protective of other Warlocks, High Warlocks tend to be-”

_“He’s a High Warlock!?”_

 

 “Yes, he is the High Warlock of Brooklyn. However, I doubt he’d pay too much mind to a warlock that had to stoop to using artifacts for additional power.

 

That being said Magnus Bane has a bit of a… _history_ with Librarians…”

 

 “That doesn’t sound promising” Jake muttered

 

 “No, it really isn’t. As I said, Magnus is one of the most powerful beings in our universe. Over the centuries there have been Librarians who have thought him to be too great of a threat, too powerful and set about targeting him.

 

 Every Librarian who’s gone after him has not returned…No trace of them is ever found.”

 

 “Well, that’s not ominous at all…” Ezekiel sniped,

 

 “So, how did you guys end up meeting him anyways?” Cassie asked, concerned

 

Jake glanced over at Ezekiel

 

 “Umm…I met him first” He said somewhat nervously

 

 “Okay, how did that happen?” Jenkins prodded

 

 “He…kinda snuck up on me in a creepy deserted room and started to tease/question me.  He seemed like it was a game, but there’s something about his gaze that’s just disconcerting, like he’s taking in way more than he should be able to.

 

I actually half wondered if he had the artifact on him because it just didn’t seem like a hot guy in sparkles, pink, and makeup should be able to pull off intimidating _that_ well…”

 

 “You think he’s hot?” Jake interjected

 

 Ezekiel rolled his eyes

 

 “Really, _that’s_ what you’re focusing on?”

 

 “I just didn’t know.”

 

 “ _Oh, so do you_ , don’t even try to lie, and an-”

 

 “Uhh…guys? Can we debate the attractiveness of the Psychic/possible High Warlock at another time…? Like maybe when we find out if he’s actually trying to set some kind of trap or something for you?” Cassie interjected

 

 They both paused guiltily before turning back to the actual conversation at hand,

 

 “So, how has he been acting around you guys?” Jenkins continued

 

 Ezekiel shrugged

 

“I don’t know, he seems fairly friendly, he’s chatty and jokes. He laughs a lot…at me

 

_Which is kind of really annoying._

 

He seems to have taken to teasing me and he either really likes using terms of endearment like Sweetheart and Darling or he just likes how much it annoys me when he calls me that…I really don’t know which-”

 

 “Wait, he called you ‘sweetheart’?” Cassie interrupted trying to cover a bit of a laugh

 

 “ _Calls_. He does it a lot, it’s annoying” Ezekiel grumbled with a faint huff,

 

 “I kinda get the feeling he likes Ezekiel.” Jake interjects

 

Ezekiel shook his head,

 

 “No, he likes _annoying_ me…he thinks I’m ‘fun’” he corrected, complete with air quotes

 

 “Well, I don’t know if it’s Magnus from that universe or the one from ours, but either way, proceed with caution. I don’t think it was a coincidence that he is involved, even with our work it would just be a bit of a stretch.

 

 Keep an eye on him, but also keep your wits about you. He might be just having a bit of fun now, but if this Magnus is, in fact The High Warlock of Brooklyn, that could turn quite quickly.”

 

 Ezekiel gulped slightly

 

_How was it plain normal Obnoxious Psychic Detective was the preferred option?_

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Raphael-Raphael-Raphael-Raphael-Raphael

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

“Oh, hey look at this!” Simon said excitedly dragging Raphael to yet another booth for yet another show…

 

 He sighed

 

 Simon was still so happy about the event and it was adorable…But two days of the nonstop crowds was beginning to wear a bit thin. He just was not used to this. Generally he’d avoid things like this event…it was just too much;

 

 Too many people

 

 Too much idiocy and ridiculousness

 

 Too much noise

 

 Too much chaos

 

 Yesterday he’d been able to just focus on Simon; but now that there was the possibility that it was an actual case he had to really take in all the rest of the people.

 

 Try to spot what was unusual, what didn’t fit…

 

 So far the only thing he saw that didn’t fit here was _himself._

 

 Simon seemed to be in his element; happily bouncing around, chatting with people like they were old friends, laughing and socializing like it was nothing.  And, Raphael supposed, for _Simon_ , it wasn’t.

 

 He was another story…

 

He’d never been too fond of large crowds.  Raphael was fine with people one on one or in smaller groups, but with this many, he just didn’t really know how to act. When that happened he tended to get irritated and snappy, and he really didn’t want to do that to Simon.

 

 Simon was just so happy and he didn’t want to spoil it for him…

 

 It was okay, he could cover well,

 

“-hael, did you hear me?”

 

 Raphael startled slightly, glancing over at Simon

 

 “What, amor?”

 

 Simon was staring at him, he looked somewhat concerned

 

 “I was talking about…you know what, it wasn’t really important. Are you alright?”

 

Raphael nodded quickly,

 

 “Yeah, I’m fine…where did you want to go next?”

 

 Simon seemed to think for a moment, before getting a slightly playful smile, intertwining their fingers and tugging him along in some random direction. He led him around the edges of the event, and a bit down a hallway.

 

 “Simon where are we going?” he asked curiously

 

 Simon just shrugged, and kept tugging him along, Raphael chuckled, but followed rather curious.

 

 He tried a few doors before he found one that was unlocked, opening it and quickly pulling Raphael in, before closing the door behind them.

 

“Where are we?” Raphael asked glancing at him

 

 Simon shrugged again

 

 “I don’t know, but there’s no crowds and it’s quiet…I figured you could use a break.”

 

 Raphael chuckled slipping his arm around his wonderful, incredible, adorable boyfriend…

 

_Really how did he ever get so lucky?_

 

 “Thank you, amor” he murmured softly as they wandered further into the room.

 

It was rather dark and fairly large. He got the feeling it was the storage room for when the hall held plays and the like. There were racks upon racks of costumes, a few set pieces and props strewn about.

 

“It’s no problem…I wish you’d of told me it was bothering you.” Simon said reaching down, taking his hand again, leaning a bit closer to Raphael

 

Raphael sighed faintly,

 

 “I know, I should have…sorry. I  just didn’t want to spoil your fun. I’m really not used to that big of crowds for that long; it was all a bit much.”

 

Simon nodded

 

"You know, you’ve been amazing about this…I know these last two days I’ve been going pretty overboard, sorry if it was too much.”

 

 Raphael shook his head quickly

 

“No, amor, you weren’t. You never are…Hell, focusing on you was what made it tolerable in the first place.”

 

 Simon blushed, giving him a soft warm smile

 

 “Yeah?”

 

Raphael nodded, tugging him a bit closer,

 

 “Definitely.”

 

 Simon nodded, before turning and slipping his arms around Raphael, tugging him close. 

 

“Good” he murmured before leaning in and kissing him softly

 

 Raphael hummed happily, deepening the kiss

 

 Simon tugs him closer

 

 Raphael breaks the kiss trailing kisses along his jaw and pressing one just behind Simon’s ear, making him gasp slightly. He kissed lightly down his neck, pausing to nip slightly at a particularly sensitive spot, causing Simon to jump slightly then give a somewhat breathless almost giggle. Raphael hums again, tugging him closer.

 

 Suddenly the door slams open

 

 “You’re not getting out of this, where the hell is Nick?” a deep voice demanded

 

 “That’s really none of your concern.”

 

 “Yeah it is, you were the last person he was talking to” Another voice added

 

 Raphael and Simon startle, quickly ducking further behind the rack of costumes they’d ended up behind, remaining out of sight of the newcomers. They peer cautiously around to get a view of the arguing men.

 

 There were four men altogether. The one Raphael recognized as Lidan, the man who hired them… The other three seemed to be confronting him.

 

“Look Campbell, I don’t know what you’re playing at, but you better drop the act and tell us where he is.”

 

Lidan gave a rather unsettling smile

 

 “Nick is fine…he left a while ago to head home, you must have just missed him.”

 

 The other three looked a bit dazed for a moment before shaking their heads, seemingly snapping out of it

 

 “No he didn’t…you’re the last person who was with him.

 

He left with YOU and he never came back.”

 

 Lidan looked annoyed for a moment, before shrugging, and giving that same, rather unsettling smile

 

 He stepped closer to the other men

 

 “Very well…I really didn’t want to do this, but I suppose you should have something I could use.”

 

 “What are you ta-” one of the men started but stopped mid sentence in shock

 

 Lidan raises his hand, brilliant orange sparks erupt and the other three disappeared in a cloud of red and orange smoke

 

 Beside Raphael, Simon gasps…

 

 Lidan freezes, before turning slowly facing where they are hiding, he gives that same, somewhat deranged smile, and raises his hand…

 

_The last thing Raphael is conscious of is pulling Simon close, trying to shield him as the heavy red and orange cloud envelopes them…_

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
> 
> ** ______________End Of Chapter Notes___________ **
> 
> *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
> 
> _Don’t freak, **they’re fine**_
> 
> _I swear I have a fix for everything_
> 
> _Anyways,_
> 
> _What do you guys think so far?_


	7. Delusions or Deceptions?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezekiel and Jake try to figure out if Magnus is Just a Psychic or if he is in actuality A High Warlock
> 
> Meanwhile Cassie and Jenkins do some investigating on their side too
> 
>  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** Notes: **
> 
> Okay, so, I totally planned to finish two chapters today
> 
> _But in my defense, I think this is plenty long enough to count as two_
> 
>  
> 
> This one’s long, but I really love it
> 
> Also, in this I think Magnus doesn’t believe the ‘AU’ thing, but he still likes them so he’s kinda playing along/humoring them

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Other-Other-Other-Other-Other

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

##  _(Ezekiel)_

 

 “Okay, how are we gonna do this?” Ezekiel asked nervously as they made their way to Magnus’s shop…

 

He’d called, asking to meet up again to go over a few more things. He made it seem like nothing, but how could they actually be sure?

 

_How do you tell if a guy is a psychic or a Warlock?_

 

Jake shrugged

 

“I don’t know…we just need to try to keep our cool, not let him get to you and keep a look out.”

 

“ _Hey!_ Don’t let him get to you either.”

 

“ _Yeah_ , he’s barely spoke to me…except when he’s taking your side. I kinda think he might have a bit of a thing for you.” Jake said smirking a bit

 

Ezekiel rolled his eyes slightly

 

“Oh please, he does not… he just likes annoying me.”

 

Jake shrugged,

 

“I don’t know; the teasing, the joking, It could definitely be his way of flirting. At the very least he absolutely seems to have a soft spot for you.”

 

Ezekiel shook his head

 

“Oh, no he doesn’t! He just likes that he can get a reaction out of me. Besides it’s irrelevant, he’s not my type anyways.”

 

Jake gave him a surprised look

 

“Really? I thought you said he was hot?”

 

He shrugged nodding a bit

 

“Well, _yeah_ , he is; but just because someone’s good looking doesn’t mean they’re automatically my type. I mean you thought he was hot too, is he **_your_** type?”

 

Jake shook his head

 

“No, he’s not…”

 

Ezekiel perked up, glancing over at him,

 

‘Really? So, what _is_ your type?”

 

_Okay, so maybe he was fishing a bit_

 

Jake raised his eyebrow

 

“Well not someone who’s either a psychic who is convinced I am delusional or a Possible High Warlock who may be trying to lure me into a trap.”

 

Ezekiel chuckled,

 

“Fair enough.”

 

“So, how do we find out which one it is?”

 

Jake thinks a minute

 

“Maybe we could ask a bit more about his team. If they’re real that’d be a good sign that he is actually the Magnus from this universe, right?”

 

Ezekiel nodded

 

“Yeah, that’s good…look for anything that proves actual links to this universe.”

 

Jake nodded, relieved

 

Which was good, as they had just arrived at the shop. At the last minute Jake stopped him, he reached over squeezing Ezekiel’s shoulder.

 

He looked over

 

“It’ll be okay, we got this” He said assuredly

 

Ezekiel gave him a warm smile, nodding slightly, took a deep breath, and reached for the door, pulling it open.

 

“Hey Magnus, good morning!” he called as cheerily as he possibly could

 

“Back here, darling” He called from the back part of the shop.

 

The office really was something else. It definitely _looked_ like it’d been around longer than a few days,

 

Glancing around Ezekiel took in all the intricate details

 

Everywhere you looked there was something else; something bright, colorful, shimmery or eye catching.

 

They wandered through to the back part of the office.

 

Magnus was leaning against one of two intricately carved desks; he was absently typing something or other into his phone.

 

Yesterday he’d kinda thought the rather flamboyant look was for the convention; it appeared that it was his day to day look. In any case, he had to admit, it **did** work for the guy…

 

Today apparently his theme was blue (though there were still sparkles)

 

His hair had brilliant aqua blue highlights which matched yet another expensive, patterned well fitted shirt. Once again he had multiple rings, necklaces and the earcuff thing…

 

His eyeliner looked as flawless as yesterday though it seemed to be a nearly black metallic blue, and today he had an odd, light shimmery blue lipstick which would look ridiculous on literally anyone else... but worked perfectly for him…

 

_Maybe they could add that to the warlock proof thing?_

 

He finished his text, flashing them a bright smile.

 

“Well, you guys look like you’re feeling a bit better today, any updates?”

 

“Uhh…no, no updates” Ezekiel ventured cautiously

 

He tilted his head curiously

 

“You haven’t talked to your friends back home? I would imagine you would have called the second you had a chance...”

 

“W-well we did call, let them know, but they didn’t have anything to add.-I got yelled at a bit for the slip up, but nothing more than usual…” he shrugged slightly

 

Magnus nodded, giving a seemingly relieved smile

 

“Oh, good, I was hoping you wouldn’t have too much trouble because of it…I would assume telling someone that you are travelers from another universe tracking magic objects and a deranged warlock must be somewhat against the rules.”

 

“I don’t think there’s really a rule about it; but that’s probably because they never thought it would be a possibility” Ezekiel offered,

 

Magnus snickered

 

“Not really a common issue?”

 

“No, this is a bit out there, even for us…”

 

He took a deep breath,

 

_Jenkins said not to confront him, But they had to at least try to get some information_

 

“Umm…So, I was actually wondering, we told you, like way too much about ourselves and we don’t have that whole ‘psychic’ thing. Could we maybe ask a bit about you?” he asked cautiously,

 

Magnus shrugged, smiling slightly, he perched back on the side of the desk, leaning back casually.

 

“Of course sweetheart; it’s only fair, what would you like to know?”

 

May as well jump right in…

 

“Umm…well, how long have you been working as a psychic detective?” he started

 

He smiled

 

“Well _officially_ I have been working with the SBPD for just shy of seven months; I bought this place around six months ago, starting my business formally…”

 

“How did that happen? Getting hired with the SPBD I mean?”

 

Magnus chuckled, giving a careless wave,

 

“Oh, you know, the usual;

 

Detective Lightwood brought me in as a possible suspect in a museum heist, mistook me for a hooker, interrogated me, or at least _attempted_ to. He’s gorgeous, fun to argue with, and easily flustered, so it really was quite fun.

 

His partner pissed me off, I outed their affair, they broke up, jackass partner left, and then Chief Garroway hired me.” He finished with a shrug

 

Jake and Ezekiel just stared, shocked

 

_Okay, now he really was less worried and more curious_

 

“Wait, the detective you work with, he arrested you? Why did he think you were a suspect in a robbery, or a hooker for that matter?”

 

Magnus laughed

 

“Well, he didn’t _officially_ arrest me. As I said, I’ve only officially be working with them for about half a year, but I’ve been calling in anonymous tips for years on cases.

 

I figured out who was the culprit, and called it in. However she had accomplices and as much knowledge as I had in the tip, Alexander assumed I was involved in the crime…

 

The hooker thing was just an honest mistake, though I do tease him about it from time to time because it makes him blush, and it is really adorable when he does. I simply cannot see that enough.” He finished with a warm smile and an almost giggle

 

_Well, that settles one concern. At least Ezekiel didn’t have to worry about Magnus being genuinely interested in either him **or** Jake…_

 

Magnus was absolutely GONE over this guy, no question

 

“What about the rest of your team?” Jake asked, seeming a bit more comfortable

 

“Hmm? Oh, Well, Raphael is my partner in the business. He also works as a pharmaceutical rep. He has been my best friend for nearly twenty years. He truly is one of a kind…Which may very well be for the _best_ , as he has a propensity for flirting, confusing and intimidating people just because he can.

 

Simon technically doesn’t work here; he is Alexander’s partner, and Raphael’s boyfriend. He truly is the sweetest person I have ever met. The darling is like cheerfulness and excitement personified. I have never seen two people more perfectly suited to one another…

 

Also, we have a new intern, Divya, though she is out of town this week. Her brother had some kind of conference in DC and she went with him. She’s a real spitfire; smart, confident and really sassy, I quite like her. She is a great addition to the group.

 

We first met her and her brother when she was kidnapped and he was tricked into helping with a bank heist that Simon was taken hostage in. Then we ran into her again while undercover investigating an attempt on the life of one of Alec’s brothers’ teachers.”

 

Once again, Jake and Ezekiel were left staring

 

Okay, so, it was seeming more and more likely that this was the Magnus from _this_ universe…It would take more than a few days to come up with that elaborate of back-story.

 

Still…

 

“Do you have any pictures of you guys?” Ezekiel asked kind of eagerly, moving over to stand next to him

 

He was pretty well convinced, but the more proof the better.

 

_Plus they sounded really interesting and he was curious to have faces to put with the crazy stories…_

 

Magnus rolled his eyes playfully

 

“Sweetheart, look at me; do I look like I’d be camera shy?”

 

Ezekiel laughed, exaggeratedly looking him over, now that he knew Magnus’s flirting was just a game and not serious it was far less annoying

 

Kinda fun, actually…

 

“Yeah, not so much” he said with a slightly flirty grin of his own

 

Magnus seemed surprised at first, then gave a delighted laugh and a beaming smile, resting his hand on Ezekiel’s shoulder.

 

“Aww, See, I knew you were fun.”

 

“No, you just think it’s fun to tease me” He sassed, nudging him with his shoulder

 

Magnus laughed again, casually throwing his arm around Ezekiel’s shoulder,

 

“Well, of course, darling…I tease everyone I like.”

 

“Cool, Can you like me a little less?”

 

“Nope!”

 

“Eh, had to ask”

 

“Ahem” Jake cleared his throat,

 

Ezekiel glanced at him

 

_Man, he looked annoyed all of a sudden_

 

“You okay?” Magnus asked somewhat concerned

 

Jake gave him a, very fake, smile

 

“Yeah, everything’s fine…weren’t you going to show us pictures of your team?” He asked, trying to sound charming

 

It missed the mark, by quite a bit

 

Magnus was undaunted; He smirked, raising his eyebrow,

 

Ezekiel just barely managed to hold in a groan…

 

He already knew that look way too well

 

_Though it was kinda nice it not being directed at him for a change…_

 

“Of course dear; though I should mention photos can be faked just as easily as a convincing back story. But if it would ease your mind, here. You are welcome to go through the entire thing if you would like” he said, his tone an obvious challenge, holding his phone out to Jake, seemingly daring him to take it.

 

Jake seemed at a loss… he basically just settled on glaring and trying to look intimidating.

 

It had no effect on Magnus whatsoever.

 

Ezekiel was not surprised.

 

He took a deep breath. Well, he’s screwed up by telling Magnus the entire mission up to this point, Magnus probably still thought he was delusional anyways, and it would answer the question once and for all.

 

_If anything it would really sell the whole ‘delusional’ thing…_

 

“He’s worried because we just found out that back in our universe ‘Magnus Bane’ is an extremely powerful warlock and we don’t know if you are the you from _this_ universe or the one from ours somehow trying to lure us into a trap, As that Magnus has a bit of a, seemingly completely justified, vendetta against Librarians…

 

So now we’re kinda trying to figure out if you’re just a ‘Normal Psychic Detective’ or in actuality an extremely powerful, universe hopping warlock bent on our demise.” Ezekiel finishes, as deadpan as possible

 

He glances over at Magnus to gauge his reaction. He doesn’t need to look at Jakes, he knows it’s gonna be shocked, incensed and probably a lot of face palming ,

 

Magnus looks concerned, somewhat stunned and amused, along with something else. Finally he just shakes his head, and bursts out laughing.

 

“What?” Ezekiel asks curiously

 

“No, it’s just the idea that ‘psychic detective’ is the normal option…” he smiles, shrugging

 

He opens his photo gallery; it has seemingly hundreds of photos, holding it up so they both could see. He flipped through the pictures, absently pointing out people and places.

 

“This is Clary, she is one of my best friends, she runs an occult shop in town

 

That’s Max, Alexander’s brother and his friends, Casey and Isaac, and Divya from when we were investigating at the school, total sweethearts all of them.

 

Dot is my Manager at Pandemonium, my club…Oh, I didn’t tell you, I own a nightclub down town…

 

 _Aww_ , these are my cats, Chairman Meow and Miss CleoCatria, we adopted her after my first case with the precinct, she was my star witness.

 

That’s the view from me and Raphaels apartment, lovely isn’t it?” he paused

 

Ezekiel nodded, absently leaning closer

 

“Ah, here’s what I was looking for…Clary took this one night when she’d popped by for a visit. I quite love it; the girl really is an artist.”

 

He stopped on a picture with four people; it was on the same balcony as in the other photo.

 

It really was a lovely picture, they were all rather close, and it was clearly candid as none of them were looking at the camera,

 

A young man with perfectly styled very dark hair in an immaculate suit was rolling his eyes at something that Magnus had obviously just said, although he had a slight smirk. He had his arm securely around the waist of a guy with light brown hair and a brilliant smile, who even in the picture, looked like he just couldn’t sit still.

 

Magnus was next to the guy in the suit clearly in the middle of some outlandish story as his one hand seemed to have been gesturing wildly. His other arm was around another man, who he seemed to be leaning against.

 

The other man was a good few inches taller than Magnus with slightly messy black hair and really striking light hazel eyes. He was smiling, all his attention focused on Magnus, he had his arm around Magnus’s shoulders and really looked like he’d be perfectly content to stay like that forever…

 

“Okay, when you were getting together your team did you just decide to raid a modeling agency or something?” Ezekiel muttered shaking his head slightly

 

_That was just way too many attractive people_

 

He chuckled, shaking his head, before glancing back at Jake

 

“So, do you believe I am who I say…or do you require more proof?”

 

Jake shrugged slightly, seemingly more convinced, but still annoyed about something…Ezekiel really didn’t know what though. He brushed it off; he was probably just still worried. Ezekiel turned to Magnus, smirking

 

“I don’t know…I think that’s maybe too many attractive people to be real. I’m saying photo shop till I meet them…Especially Alec. He’s the really tall one with the pretty eyes, right?”

 

Magnus laughed, rolling his eyes

 

Jake glared more

 

Magnus laughed harder

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Other-Other-Other-Other-Other

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

##  _ (Cassandra) _

 

 “So, how much further?” Cassandra asked as they made their way down the dark street

 

“We’re nearly there. Any closer and he may have been able to sense the door…I would really prefer it if he had as little forewarning as possible.” Jenkins answered

 

“You really think this is a good idea?”

 

Jenkins scoffed slightly shaking his head

 

“No, I think this is a terrible idea. However, as it would be the easiest way for us to find out if the Magnus Bane there is actually from that universe or ours, and as I have heard rumors that he possess something that can allow someone to travel between universes, it may be our best option…

 

Assuming he doesn’t just decide to kill us on sight of course.” he finished muttering

 

“Well, me, you not so much as you are immortal” Cassie interjects

 

It doesn’t really make her feel better

 

Jenkins shrugs slightly

 

“I honestly don’t know how true that would be. I _am_ immortal, but Magnus has been around for quite a few centuries, nearly as many as I have. He has friends and allies in all manner of beings; Magic’s, Fae, shapeshifters, Vampires, even a few demons and it is rumored still more...

 

 None of us at the library have really been able to get an accurate account of all his abilities. The ones that we know of range from impressive to terrifying, but the ones we don’t…? That really is anyone’s guess. I do not think anything is assured here.”

 

“Well…that’s comforting…” She mutters as they turn up an alley she nearly missed entirely

 

It seems darker somehow, and she gets the prickly feeling of eyes on her. She shivers just a bit, pulling her coat just a little tighter around her.

 

“Are you certain this is the right way?”

 

Jenkins nods

 

“Yes, it is cloaked, that feeling you’re getting? It’s a kind of security device. It usually will keep anyone who doesn’t know about it away.”

 

He assured as they took another turn

 

It seemed even darker still,

 

She shivered again, momentarily rethinking this decision, before shaking the thought away. It was for Jake and Zeke; they were on a mission in a whole other universe. The least she could do is ask a few questions…

 

Jenkins sighed, noticing her trepidation

 

“Look, he’s powerful, but he isn’t supposed to be unreasonable. If we explain what is going on, remain polite and as _nonthreatening_ as possible, and just ask him if he knows what could be used to transport between worlds we should be fine.  No way he’ll actively help us track down a fellow warlock, but I do not think, unprovoked, he would hurt us either, and perhaps he could at least point us in the right direction.”

 

She glances over at him raising her eyebrow slightly

 

“Are you just trying to make me feel better?”

 

He shrugged

 

“Yes…

 

 But it’s too late to back out now, we’re here” he said reaching over and knocking rapidly on a rather nondescript door.

 

“WHO DARES DISTURB THE HIGH WARLOCK OF BROOKLYN?!” a voice booms out, echoing off the walls seeming coming from everywhere at once.

 

Cassie jumps looking around, her heart racing like a jackrabbit. Even Jenkins startles, glancing around trying to determine where it’s coming from.

 

“H-hello Mr. Bane we are from the library and we just wanted to as-” Jenkins began

 

 “I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU WANT TO ASK, THE ANSWER IS NO”

 

The voice was louder now

 

“It’s just th-”

 

“I SAID NO, LIBRARIAN! LEAVE OR YOU WILL FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER LIBRARIANS WHO’VE COME AFTER ME!”

 

This time the entire alley seemed to quake with the sound. Jenkins shook his head rather at a loss.

 

“We’ll have to find another way” he said taking her arm, beginning back the way they came,

  
Cassie pulled away

 

“Oh no we won’t!” 

 

She turned back around facing the door,

 

“Okay, now you listen here!

 

My friends are in another universe trying to stop a deranged warlock who seems to be bent on becoming the ‘most powerful being’ in that universe and is planning on stealing a bunch of peoples essences on the next full moon, and we don’t know how he got there, but we think you might and you _are_ going to help us because it is the right thing to do and I know there have been some librarians who came after you and I’m sorry, that is truly horrible,

 

But these are my best friends and like family and they are trying to, literally, protect an _entire universe_ , so you need to stop with the ‘shaky voice of doom’ and at least hear us out because it kinda seems like the case might be tied to you…an-”

 

“The doors unlocked, come in, just... please stop talking …” a smooth, much more human, exasperated sounding voice said,

 

Cassie beamed as she opened the door

 

“Thank you” she said cheerily

 

The only answer was a rather aggravated huff

 

“So, how do we know where to…oh, never mind” Cassie trailed off as a brilliant, shimmering violet orb appeared in front of them.

 

They followed it up a rather steep, elaborate staircase and through a few rooms until reaching what could only be describe as a lair.

 

It was a large opulently decorated room, filled with furniture and pieces from centuries ago, all of which looked brand new. One entire wall was windows with a beautiful door situated right in the center, opening onto a balcony, showing a breathtaking view of the cities shimmering skyline.

 

 Along the other wall there was a huge, intricately designed fireplace decorated with carvings reminiscent of a gothic cathedral; silhouettes of creatures, gargoyles and demons, too many to make out any one. As they looked on a light snapping sounded and the thing roared to life causing them to jump back.

 

Brilliant violet and blue flames irrupted, shooting up nearly to the ceiling before leveling down, fading to the normal reds and oranges, though a bit of violet stayed around the very edges.

 

The fire illuminated the room, revealing a man sitting nearby on an elegant looking lounge, one elbow resting on the arm, the other hand loosely holding some kind of electric blue cocktail that seems to almost be illuminated itself, accentuating the man’s features…

 

Okay…she wasn’t really into guys, like at all, but if the Magnus there looked like the Magnus here?

 

She kinda got why they were distracted…

 

His raven black hair was in an elaborate style that she didn’t even know how to describe other than ‘up’. He’s wearing a deep, nearly black, violet shirt that had quite a few of the buttons undone. A silver cuff adorned one ear and he had a wide assortment of necklaces and rings. His jet black nails glimmered ominously in the firelight.

 

He had strikingly gorgeous, sharp features. But what really drew your attention were his eyes. Framed by kohl making them even more striking, though they were arresting enough without it,

 

They were not human…

 

They were a brilliant gold that nearly seemed to glow in the firelight, the pupils were slits like a cats. He seemed to be looking them over just as much as they were him.

 

He smirks, tilting his head curiously,

 

“Galahad, or sorry, you are going by Jenkins now, correct?”

 

“Yes, how did y-”

 

He gave a bit of a dismissive wave,

 

“Oh, no worries, I tend to keep tabs on immortals…Well, the interesting ones in any case. I’m not about to memorize every vamp, Fae, and warlock in existence. I really don’t have the patience for that…You are unique though.”

 

He turned to Cassandra, 

 

“So…you are the new Librarian? I did not hear of the most recent one’s death; Carmine or Carlos? Something to that effect.”

 

She shook her head

 

“Carson, well Flynn Carson…He hasn’t died, just kind of wandered. He does that a lot.” She said with a slight eye roll.

 

He tilted his head again, the move didn’t seem entirely human, and was more than a bit disconcerting; his eyes seemed to get brighter.

 

“Hmm…yet you are a librarian. I was not aware they were in the habit of having multiple librarians at a single time. I understand that there is a rather high turnover in that field however, if they have gotten in the practice of having a back up waiting at the annex perhaps it is time to reevaluate your guardians?”

 

She shook her head

 

“Oh, no…See it just kinda happened. There are actually four of us counting Flynn, but he just kind of goes and does his own thing. Eve is our guardian and she really is great… she’d be here with us but, well, she kind of got hurt last week when we had a fight with a Minotaur and hasn’t fully recovered yet.

 

But we are Librarians, all of us.” She finished somewhat proudly

 

“Well…I suppose that’s rather good for you. And I take it these ‘friends’ of yours, the ones in the other universe? They are the other Librarians, yes?”

 

She nodded

 

“Yes and th-”

 

“Well, you see darling, while for _you_ more Librarians means support and friends and all those lovely sweet things; for me it tends to mean more people who are likely to try to kill me.

 

You guys never actually get too close, but it gets somewhat tedious and I am really rather over all that drama.” He paused with a careless wave of his hand which sent blue and violet shimmering sparks dancing through the air.

 

 “I do not know what this case is, but honestly, if another warlock takes out a few extra Librarians, it probably works in my favor. I doubt the day will come when I would root for a Librarian over one of my own…”

 

“Mr. Bane, or Magnus?” she glanced up at him, he just waived her on

 

“Okay, Magnus, I understand that, I really do: you have every right to distrust Librarians after everything they’ve done against you…

 

But none of us would do that.

 

My friends really are good people; they just want to protect others, that’s all.

 

They are there because a Warlock used some kind of artifact to transport to a universe totally devoid of magic. He took four artifacts, three of which we know what they were as well as whatever he used to transfer to the universe.

 

We think that he did it because he couldn’t gain enough power here. He thought if he was the only magic being in the universe, using the artifacts as well as his own limited powers he’d be able to become the most powerful being in that universe…”

 

Magnus burst out laughing, interrupting her, shaking his head slightly. He finally got himself under control, taking a deep breath,

 

“So, _sorry_ , alright, let me just see if I have this straight; An almost pathetically weak warlock, with delusions of grandeur and an inferiority complex swiped a few artifacts and is now traipsing around a non magic universe in a vain attempt to become the equivalent of a comic book supervillian…

 

And…what, you want my help?”

 

Cassandra and Jenkins both shook their heads

 

“Oh, no…we realize that you wouldn’t turn against one of your own.

 

We had two reasons we wanted to talk to you. One, we wanted to know if you knew of any object that they may have used to travel to the other universe.

 

See, since there is no magic in that universe I was able to run a few algorithms and combine them with various divining spells to read the magical signatures in that universe-”

 

“Umm, forgive me for interrupting, dear, but how did you know how to do this? I haven’t heard of anyone ever attempting such a thing.” Magnus asked, he looked excited, and rather intrigued

 

She blushed, shaking her head

 

“Oh, uhh…well, I don’t, not, like for sure. But I’ve always had a bit of a knack for Mathematics and seem to have one for Magic as well; I can kind of just see how things can fit together. That’s also how I found us a way to communicate with them over the distance…”

 

He sat a bit straighter, leaning closer. He waived his hand and his drink disappeared. They apparently had his full attention.

 

She didn’t know if that was a good thing or not…

 

It seemed almost disconcerting.

 

“You have found a way to communicate with them in the other universe? That is quite remarkable…I do not believe I caught your name, darling?”

 

“Oh, Cassandra, Cassandra Killian, or Cassie is fine…

 

My friends, the other Librarians, are Ezekiel Jones and Jake Stone. They really are good men” she said hopefully

 

“I believe to you they are, though that may be rather different from my viewpoint. In any case I believe I got you rather side tracked, I do apologize. What was it you wanted my help with?

 

It seems you could figure out most anything, darling” he smiled

 

She blushed slightly

 

“Oh, thank you, that’s really sweet. So, like I said, I tracked the Magic in that universe and found the artifacts, as well at the warlock’s signature…But one of them is totally unknown to us. We were hoping you may be able to give us an idea what it is?”

 

He put his hand to his cheek, thoughtfully

 

“Hmm…I may be able to…What was the other reason you wanted to see me?”

 

“Oh, uh, that’s kinda irrelevant now anyways…as you are, well, _here_ ” She said waiving it off

 

Magnus grinned, raising an eyebrow; his eyes seemed to brighten even more

 

“Well, that’s rather cryptic, isn’t it? Now I am really intrigued,”

 

“Umm…well…the thing is, we kind of thought there may have been a slight chance that you were kind of…sort of…there, too”

 

His eyes widened

 

“Wait, what’s that now?”

 

“Umm…Well, see while there Jake and Ezekiel ran into this psychic detective who’s also named Magnus Bane and we kinda thought for a minute that he may have actually been, well, you.”

 

Magnus gasped rather excitedly

 

“ _Really_? They ran into that universes version of me? What are the chances?”

 

Cassie shook her head

 

“Honestly, mathematically nonexistent…I really don’t think it would be a coincidence, so we believe you may be in some way linked to this, even if you are unaware of it.”

 

Magnus nodded slightly

 

“Hmm…that really is quite intriguing. And you have no idea what it could be that the warlock used to travel there?”

 

“Well, no, not really, I mean, the signature looks a lot like the Janis Compass that our guys used to get there, only quite a bit more powerful.”

 

He thought a moment, then froze, his eyes seemed to flash. He smiled again, but it was no longer anything nice…it seemed almost _predatory_.

 

“I’m going to take a wild guess and assume the guy jumped, oh, I’d say, four days ago… Sound about right?”

 

Cassie looked over to Jenkins who shrugged

 

“W-We’re not certain when exactly he did, but that would line up about right, why, is the date significant or something?”

 

“Oh, no, not really. I had a party here that night. Anyways, you say the signature is similar to the Janis Compass,

 

 _Exactly_ how similar is it?”

 

The question surprised her, she shrugged

 

“Actually, except for being apparently more powerful, it is virtually identical; The materials seem nearly indistinguishable, though I’d hazard a guess it is a fair bit smaller, as it seems more…I guess concentrated, would be the best way to put it.”

 

Magnus gives a disbelieving huff, shaking his head

 

“Like, perhaps, a ring?”

 

Cassandra nodded eagerly

 

“Yes! That would almost certainly be the right size. Why, do you know of one that can? Possibly who may have had it last? Cause that would be really helpful”

 

He gave a rather sharp laugh…It didn’t sound nearly as friendly as the one a few moments ago. It was actually a somewhat disconcerting sound.

 

Magnus nodded

 

“Oh, yes…I know of a ring. Its signature would be virtually identical to the Janis Compass, as it, too, was created in the same way, and by the same being. It is a gold ring with an intricate inset of onyx and has a brilliant violet stone.”

 

“Oh, that’s quite descriptive…and do you happen to know who may have had it last?”

 

He nodded again

 

“Yes, _me_ …”

 

“Uh oh…” Jenkins muttered

 

Magnus grinned,

 

It sent a chill down both their spines

 

“You know, you said this warlock was delusional…Apparently, in addition to that he is either the stupidest person in existence, or suicidal…

 

I cannot fathom another reason why anyone would be brazen enough to steal something from me, from my own _home_ no less.

 

However, I would _very much_ like to find out…

 

I’m in.” He said somewhat gleefully with that same predatory smirk

 

His eyes flickered again

 

 “Uhh…”

 

_You know…the warlock they’re tracking may be a power obsessed psychopath set on stealing peoples essences, but in that moment both Cassandra and Jenkins felt a pang of sympathy for the guy_

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, usually the 7th chapter is one of my least favorite, it seems to be where I get bogged down…
> 
> But I REALLY love this one so much
> 
> I love the contrast between the two Magnus’s
> 
> _(Really it’s not like you could actually have too many Magnus’s right?)_
> 
> Okay, yeah this turned out very long but I love it anyways…
> 
> I loved Ezekiel relaxing around Magnus and kinda flirting back now that he really does get that it’s just fun…
> 
> I also love Jake getting kinda jealous
> 
>  
> 
> No, Magnus is not hitting on Cassie, well, no more than he does with attractive people in general; he just sees how awesome she is _(Because, well, how can you not?)_
> 
> Yes Jenkins is there the whole time; I just kinda forgot to write lines for him, because, well, Cassandra is way more interesting
> 
> We’ll just say he was standing there trying to look intimidating,
> 
> Then figured Cassie would be able to get a better response
> 
> _So, what do you guys think so far?_
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  


	8. When Worlds Collide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Ezekiel bond, Jake is annoyed,
> 
> Magnus tries to help…
> 
> Cassie and Jenkins call Ezekiel and Jake to let them know about their new collaborator
> 
> Really, is there such a thing as too many Magnus’s?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** Notes: **
> 
> _Okay, umm…_
> 
> **_I LOVE THIS CHAPTER SO FREAKNG MUCH!!!_ **
> 
> _Sorry, I’m back…_
> 
> So, in this chapter we will have both Magnus’s
> 
> Warlock!Magnus is represented as 
> 
> **Magnus**
> 
> I hope it doesn’t get too confusing…
> 
>  

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Other-Other-Other-Other-Other

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

##  _ (Ezekiel) _

 

 “So, wait, how did you guys get out of the warehouse after that?” Ezekiel asked eagerly leaning forward

 

Magnus smirked, shrugging

 

“Oh, well, in one of the crates from the air force base I happened to find a sleeping gas grenade. Alec threw it on our way out and just to be safe we blocked the door with the leg from Divya’s chair. Though she _still_ insists we should have let her throw it…”

 

Ezekiel burst out laughing, shaking his head

 

_Okay, no way a mission should be this much fun_

 

He and Magnus had been swapping stories for nearly an hour. At this point he was certain that the guy was the Magnus from this world…

 

_Also he was possibly one of the craziest, and by far most entertaining, people he’d ever met._

 

He had about a million stories, each more insane than the last; he couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed so much.

 

“Yeah, that’s great, I’m gonna grab somthin’ to drink” Jake grumbled, wandering out the door, heading for the coffee stand across the street

 

Magnus nodded kind of dismissively, before turning back to his phone, flipping through more photos.

 

Ezekiel rolled his eyes slightly. Jake seemed to be sulking about something or the other.

 

By this point he must have realized that Magnus was being truthful…He really couldn’t figure out what the guys problem was. Maybe he was just annoyed that Ezekiel had been telling Magnus so much about them, but he couldn’t really seem to help it.

 

The guy was hilarious and he figured if they were actually **trying** to sound delusional. The truth of being a Librarian probably would sell it better than any crazy lie he could come up with.

 

Ezekiel huffed a bit, shaking his head

 

“Sorry about him, I don’t know what his problem is…I guess he probably thinks I’m telling you too much or something.” He said with a shrug

 

Magnus chuckled slightly

 

“No, darling, that’s not it…”

 

“No?” Ezekiel asked curiously

 

Magnus shook his head

 

“Nope”

 

“Okay then, you’re the psychic…what is it?” he said, half teasing

 

“He is just rather annoyed by the flirting, that’s all.”

 

Ezekiel tilted his head slightly in confusion,

 

“Huh? Why would that bother him? You’ve been flirting since we met you, it didn’t bother him before.”

 

Magnus chuckled

 

“True…but up till now you had not been flirting _back_ …I’m afraid the dear is just a bit jealous.”

 

“What? Why would he be jealous? He was even kind of teasing me about it earlier, and we’re just joking…Right?”

 

He asked, hoping he hadn’t misread the situation…He really didn’t want to seem like he was leading Magnus on or anything.

 

Magnus gave a bright laugh, and a rather careless wave,

 

“Yes, darling. No offense, you are adorable and really quite fun, but not my type.”

 

Ezekiel nodded relieved

 

“Okay, good, same…You are really fun and cool and honestly kind of _annoyingly_ hot but, yeah not really my type either.”

 

Magnus raised his eyebrow, smirking

 

Ezekiel didn’t even bother stopping the groan this time

 

“What?” he asked exasperatedly

 

“Well, first off, thank you Sweetheart. But let me guess…Your type is more the slightly older, handsome, overly serious, cowboy art/history major with pretty blue eyes?”

 

Ezekiel shook his head

 

“I-wa-no, that’s crazy I’m not into Jake. We just work together, that’s all. I have no interest in him, and vice versa.

 

We’re just friends, that’s all.”

 

Magnus rolled his eyes

 

 _“Ly-ing”_ he singsonged

 

“Now, don’t start that again! I just started to like you, that could change really quickly!”

 

“I will stop calling you out on your lies when you _stop_ lying…darling, I don’t know why you would have thought I’d miss it this time.”

 

Ezekiel huffed

 

“I _didn’t_ …I just kinda thought you’d be a nice enough guy not to call me out on my hopeless crush, that’s all.”

 

Magnus gave him a rather surprised look

 

“Sweetheart, why would you think it is a hopeless crush?”

 

Ezekiel sighed, shaking his head faintly,

 

“Magnus, just…let it go, okay, please?”

 

He nodded slightly,

 

“Very well, I did not intend to upset you darling…Though I would like to point out, generally if someone gets that jealous over a bit of playful flirting, it’s probably because they want to be the one you’re flirting with.

 

I do not think it’s considered a ‘hopeless crush’ when both parties feel the same way.”

 

Ezekiel rolled his eyes snorting slightly

 

“ Yeah, right”

 

“Exactly, I am always right…I _am_ a psychic after all.”

 

Ezekiel gave him a sarcastic look,

 

Magnus just smiled

 

“I just don’t think- _oh, crap,_ he’s back…drop it!” He hissed franticly, trying to look like they were talking about, literally _anything_ else, as Jake came back in

 

“…and that’s why I’m now banned from Peru” Magnus concluded

 

_Man, he was quick on it…Though he could have came up with a more believable story_

 

_Who gets banned from an entire country?_

 

“Oh, you guys are still going, huh… We should probably ge-”

 

Jake was cut off by Ezekiel’s phone ringing. Jake and Ezekiel glanced at each other than back at Magnus.

 

“Umm…we, uh, we should probably go…” Ezekiel said nervously

 

“Oh, don’t mind me, take your call.” Magnus waved them on, raising his eyebrow, with a faint smirk,

 

“Man, I hate that look _so much...”_ Ezekiel muttered

 

“So…you have told me pretty much all about your ‘Library’, Magic, warlocks and the like…You _truly_ believe everything you said. And yet, you are nervous about answering a call from, I’d guess, your ‘team’ back home?

 

I can only think of three scenarios in which that makes sense:

 

You actually **_are_** lying, and are far better at it than you pretended, in which case you are either highly trained operatives or total sociopaths, though I suppose it could be both as those could overlap…

 

You _were_ being truthful, but are in fact, delusional, and in some way this call would disprove the delusion, therefore you are hesitant to take it because on some subconscious level you know that…

 

Or,

 

You _were_ being entirely truthful, about everything. Magic and other universes actually DO exist and there in fact IS a deranged power hungry warlock bent on wreaking havoc on this world and you were just hoping I’d chalk all your crazy ramblings up to thinking you were delusional…

 

Very interesting options…

 

I really am quite curious which one it is.”

 

He finishes sitting back on the desk, crossing his arms, with that same smirk, clearly calling out their next move. This time Jake’s phone begins to ring. Ezekiel and Jake exchange confused slightly panicked looks, at a loss.

 

Finally Jake just shrugs,

 

“Oh, what the hell…here goes nothing” he grumbles moving over by the desk next to Magnus and Ezekiel, holding the phone up and hitting the answer button

 

“Hey, guys…we, uh, we kinda have a bit of a situation here” he starts tilting the phone to show Magnus next to them

 

Jenkins and Cassie have virtually the same, shocked, vaguely panicked expressions; they simultaneously glance to one side

 

“Uh…yeah, we do too…” Cassie says, turning the phone slightly

 

Ezekiel froze

 

Jake startled so much he nearly dropped the phone

 

Magnus gasped, eyes wide

 

“Well, hello there...I must say this is a first, even for me.” **_Magnus_** said, raising an eyebrow, smirking

 

The expression was eerily familiar by now

 

It was somewhat unsettling with the golden cat eyes however

 

“…Oookay…so, option three it is…Gotta say, I did **_not_** see this coming.” Magnus whispered shaking his head slightly

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

_Okay, so, apparently he was now delusional as well…_

_Wait,_

 

If you realize you are delusional, are you still, in actuality, delusional?

 

Or does the acknowledgement of the delusion cancel it out?

 

How does that work?

 

Magnus didn’t know, but that was the only option he had.

 

Because that was the sanest reason he could come up with as to why he was currently staring at a phone about to have a conversation with, well, **_himself_**.

 

The other option was that he was currently talking to another universes’ version of himself about aiding two magic hunting ‘Librarians’ from that universe in an attempt to track down four magical objects and a demented, power obsessed warlock hell-bent on becoming the most powerful being in this universe by stealing peoples ‘essences’ on the next full moon, (Meaning tomorrow night)

 

_Really, he was kind of hoping for the delusional thing…_

 

“…Darling, are you alright? I don’t think we are generally supposed to be that pale” **_Magnus_** asked, smirking, an amused glint in his cat eyes.

 

“Oh, you know what, j-just _shut up for a second…_ By the way Ezekiel? You are totally right, the smirking eyebrow thing is annoying as hell. I truly need to cut back on that” he muttered shaking his head slightly.

 

He was kind of pacing the floor, he couldn’t sit still…he couldn’t do that _normally_

 

This was about the farthest from normal you could get

 

_Like a whole other universe, far_

_Oh hell…_

 

He shook his head one more time, before coming back over by Ezekiel, who was watching him rather concerned, he put his arm around Magnus’s shoulders,

 

“You alright?” he asked cautiously

 

Magnus closed his eyes, and took a deep, cleansing breath, before releasing it. He nodded faintly, giving him a slightly grateful smile

 

“Yes, sweetheart, thank you…” he said, before turning back to the screen

 

He relaxed his shoulders, leaned against the desk, looked over the other two people on the screen, giving a faint smile of acknowledgement before settling on the smirking man with the cat eyes.

 

 He gave a casual shrug, and a slightly dismissive wave of his hand,

 

“I’m quite alright, _sweetie_ , thanks so much for the concern though. Slight slip up, but I believe that’s rather warranted.

 

 I suppose for you this whole parallel universe, magic, doppelganger thing is somewhat routine, for me it is fairly unexpected, you understand.” He said, all false sweetness

 

 ** _Magnus_** chuckled, the cat eyes glinting slightly

 

 “Of course, as I said it is rather a first for me as well…though I did have more forewarning, which is to say _any_ whatsoever; truthfully I’d half expect someone in your position to be verging on cationic or gibbering like a fool. I must say, I am rather impressed.”

 

“Well, truth be told I’m kind of going with the possibility that I, in fact, came into contact with whatever is affecting the people at the convention, and by extension, Ezekiel and Jake as well.

 

I mean, I have been listening to their stories for the better part of two days; It would stand to reason that some of that would stick. We do not know what is affecting the patrons, though the most logical guess would be a toxin of some kind.

 

If that is the case then it is entirely possible that I just unknowingly came into contact with it and the delusional scenario I would experience would be based on the most recent, therefore move _vivid_ , narrative I have heard.”

 

He shrugged

 

 ** _Magnus_** laughed, shaking his head slightly, and _again_ with the eyebrow thing

 

_After today he was definitely cutting down on that_

 

“So, you prefer to think that you are basically hallucinating this?”

 

“You mean, as opposed to thinking a megalomaniac warlock from another universe is currently collecting people to harvest their essences on the next full moon with the aid of a magic feather from  a siren, And the only thing standing in his way is two universe hopping ‘Librarians’ and a fake psychic detective?

 

 _Yeah_ , I think I’m kinda hoping for the hallucination thing.”

 

“Fake!?” Ezekiel asked shocked, whirling to face him

 

Magnus rolled his eyes

 

“I don’t have powers; I have an eidetic memory and about twenty years of detective training from my stern, overly enthusiastic, _slightly_ obsessive detective father, okay? Now, can we get back to the craziness at hand?”

 

“My father was Asmodeus **,** a greater demon and prince of hell” **_Magnus_** ventured

 

“Awesome; Remind me to call Henry later and apologize…Apparently, he actually could have been _way_ worse.”  He said glancing over at Ezekiel

_At least he looks as weirded out by **Magnus’s** comment as Magnus was_

 

_God, this was already exhausting and confusing_

_Good thing it was just a delusion_

_Hopefully_

…

 

He shook his head

 

“Once again, can we get back to the most important crazy thing at this _particular_ moment? The universe hopping, power mad warlock focused on becoming a real life supervillian with the aid of a magic feather?”

 

The grey haired man on the screen nodded, looking somewhat impressed.

 

“Quite right, thank you, Magnus.”

 

The cute redhead standing next to him perked up, leaning forward and waiving slightly

 

“Oh by the way, this is Jenkins, and I’m Cassandra, or Cassie’s fine, and well, you know **_Magnus_** …And **_Magnus_**? these are the other Librarians, Ezekiel and Jake. Guys this is…uh…Magnus Bane…

 

 _Wow,_ this is gonna get really confusing _really_ quickly.” She finished shaking her head

 

Everyone just sort of nodded,

 

Ezekiel smirked, nudging Magnus’s shoulder slightly,

 

“Well, I could always just call you Sparkles.”

 

“And I could always just tell Jenkins exactly what happened with the Gremlins last year.”

 

“How’d yo-”

 

“Eidetic memory and deductive reasoning run amok; I remember every word you said, every inflection and can fill in the rest.”

 

Ezekiel huffed, rolling his eyes

 

“I think the psychic thing was actually less creepy.”

 

Magnus smirked, raising his eyebrow

 

_What? He said **after** this he’d cut down_

 

“True, but I’ve been told it’s a fair bet more impressive.”

 

“Fine, we’re _not_ calling him Sparkles” Ezekiel grumbled

 

“When was **_Sparkles_** ever an option!? You two seem, like, really chummy…

 

How much have we missed there?” Cassie asked glancing between Magnus and Ezekiel, then to a slightly glaring Jake.

 

 ** _Magnus_** leaned forward, cat eyes glinting with amusement.

 

“I am actually quite interested in that myself. Cassandra, dear, you did not tell me just how attractive your friends were. I may have agreed to help sooner.” he gave a charismatic smile, glancing over Jake and Ezekiel

 

Jake just kind of stammered and glared

 

It was an interesting combination

 

Ezekiel shook his head

 

“Uh, no…And _nothing_ , it’s an in joke, you had to be there. _Anyways_ , the name thing can wait…Last we talked you guys were worried that he” Pointing towards Magnus next to him

 

“Might actually be, him” Pointing at the Magnus on the screen

 

“And here in an elaborate scheme to somehow trap us for some reason or another. How did we go from _that_ to him sitting in the Library next to you guys?”

 

“Well, we wanted to be sure if the Magnus there was the Magnus from there or, well, the one from here. Also, as I did not know what the fourth artifact could have been I thought he may have been able to give us some insight into what it was.”

 

That seemed to snap Jake out of his stubborn, glaring, whatever the hell it was he seemed stuck on,

 

“Wait, you know what the last artifact is?” He asked, focusing on **_Magnus_**

 

He smirked, eyes flashing

 

Even on this side of the screen the three felt the need to move back slightly.

 

“Oh yes, I know what he used”

 

“Uhh…w-what is it?” Ezekiel asked timidly

 

_Man, and he thought **this** Magnus was intimidating_

 

“My ring that he apparently stole from my own home during a party a few nights ago.”

 

Ezekiel scoffed slightly

 

“Oookay, so the guy isn’t just ‘crazy’ in the delusions of grandeur, over reaching, supervillian in training kinda way…He is actually completely bat-crap insane.”

 

 ** _Magnus_** gave a surprised laugh, tilting his head slightly, the movement didn’t seem entirely human, but at least the laugh seemed less ‘destruction eminent’ then the smirk earlier.

 

“Oh, I quite like you, Ezekiel Jones” he practically purred

 

Ezekiel’s eyes widened, he shook his head quickly,

 

“Uhh…th-that’s uhh…r-real flattering and everything, but uhh…we-” he said, slipping his arm around Jake, pulling him close, holding on somewhat too tight,

 

“Are actually together, so uh, yeah… ** _really_** flattering though.”

 

Jake looked shocked for a moment, before nodding quickly, slipping his arm around Ezekiel too,

 

“Uhh..yup” he said eloquently

 

Ezekiel fought down the eyeroll, it wouldn’t do in the situation,

 

But seriously,

 

**_Yup!?_ **

 

_The guy knows more about literature and poetry than probably anyone on the planet and **that’s** the best he could come up with?_

 

On the screen **_Magnus_** grins

 

It’s nearly playful, and like he knows something they don’t…It’s also nearly as disconcerting as the smirk with the flashing eyes

 

“Hmm…what a shame…In any case, the Magnus there is quite right. We really must focus on the task at hand.

 

Does anyone have an idea as to how to begin?” he asked politely glancing around at the others.

 

“W-well, we need to find out exactly who he is. If we can find that out at least you would actually know who you were looking for. I’d imagine finding a warlock at a Scifi convention has to be kinda difficult.” Cassie ventured

 

 ** _Magnus_** gives a slight bark of a laugh, shaking his head,

 

“Seriously? He traveled across universes and his first stop is a _scifi convention?_ I think we have more proof of his insanity.”

Ezekiel nodded emphatically

 

“Oh, dude you don’t even know…Trying to spot something odd there is impossible, everything’s odd!”

 

“I would imagine so.”

 

Cassie gave a rather perplexed shrug,

 

“It _is_ a strange place to target…”

 

“Well, not necessarily…” Jake ventured

 

“How so?” **_Magnus_** asked

 

Jake shrugged

 

“Well, the one artifact he has, Meredith’s Charm? In our world it transforms people into whatever they happen to be dressed as. Where better to find a large number of people dressed up in costume than a scifi convention?

 

And really it would be the only place where it wouldn’t be immediately noticed. I mean anywhere else the first sighting of a hobbit or alien or whatever and it’d be major news.

 

But **_here_**?

 

We’ve been saying it the entire time; It’d be weirder to find people _NOT_ totally going overboard at one of these things.

 

Come on, guy’s _obviously_ an idiot,

 

Hell, he snuck into a party at the home of one of the most powerful beings in our universe and swiped a magical piece of jewelry, thinking he’d just get away with it?

 

Clearly he’s a moron…

 

I’d bet he had no idea the artifacts wouldn’t work the same in this universe. He probably figured it’d be a straight transference of power. This would be the **_perfect_** place to start.

 

 Actually, If he’s that off he may have got it into his head that if he used the charm to transform them into their characters _first_ , he could actually steal the essences of whatever they turned into…” he trailed off shaking his head at the sheer absurdity

 

 Jake glanced around at the others.

 

Magnus, nice, _not scary_ , Magnus, was staring at him like he just saw Jake for the first time,

 

He nodded slowly

 

“Very good darling…that would actually track perfectly” he smiled approvingly

 

 ** _Magnus_** on the screen nodded consideringly

 

“I agree… ** _very_** impressive. Hmm… Handsome, an appealing accent, _and_ intelligence, you really lucked out…” he said, smirking at Ezekiel, before giving a slight laugh

 

“Though, I suppose the statement is rather interchangeable with you two.”

 

 “That is true enough” Magnus interjected with a slight almost giggle beside them, playfully nudging Ezekiel before sending a slightly flirty wink towards Jake.

 

 Ezekiel rolled his eyes smirking right back. Jake just blushed and tried to glare.

 

 ** _Magnus_** on the screen gave a delighted laugh and clapped

 

“Oh, this is far too fun…When this is all over I may have to spare this imbecile yet for the sheer entertainment this has been.”

 

Magnus cleared his throat, pointedly ignoring what that statement implied

 

“Umm…yes…well, in any case, we know his motivation, but this brings to mind something else…Cassandra, darling?

 

Ezekiel has said that you are quite the wiz when it comes to math; How likely is it that someone would steal something from that universe and then this universes version of that person would just happen to stumble onto the case?”

 

She shook her head

 

“Mathematically nonexistent.”

 

He nodded

 

“That’s about what I thought, thank you darling. Now, I was hired to investigate this case by the event coordinator. He came to my office, seemed rather taken with me, talking about my cases.

 

Not to sound conceded, but I rather thought that the ‘case’ was just a ruse to meet me. I suppose it _could_ have been a coincidence that I just happened to get hired for the case, but that seems a bit of a stretch.

 

The man I was hired by is named Lidan Campbell… ** _Magnus_**? Does that name ring any bells?” He paused looking at him

 

He thought for a moment, but shook his head

 

“No dear, it doesn’t. Although, I am not in the habit of knowing the names of every warlock in existence. I wouldn’t have taken any notice of him…

 

And quite frankly, if he’s as weak, willful and incompetent as he is appearing to be, that is probably the only reason he is still in existence, such as he is…”

 

Magnus nodded kind of wide eyed

 

“Uh huh, okay, not that that’s not totally creepy or disconcerting or _disturbing as hell,_ or anything…but a simple ‘no’ would have worked.

 

Anyways,

 

Maybe on your guys’ side you can look into him, perhaps try to find a photo, or check your security cameras or whatever the magical equivalent of them would be… and get a photo to us. Meanwhile we’ll look into it from this side, check his background and such. There’s no way someone could have put together this entire event in a few days; I mean, if the warlock we were chasing was _YOU_ then, yeah, but this guy?

 

No chance…

 

I’m thinking it’s either a false name or he found a way to trick or charm his way into the position, _or_ he’s  just flat out lying and he has at least enough power to snap up all access passes and the like for the event…

 

In any case it would mean that he wanted me, or _you_ , or this universes version of you, or some combination thereof, there for the event. Perhaps he believes that I am, in actuality, a psychic and wants those abilities,

 

Or thinks that somehow with the charm thing I will somehow have _your_ abilities, thereby giving _him_ a chance at them,

 

Or, _hell_ , maybe he’s just some overly obsessed Fanboy with a crush, I don’t know, and it is irreverent anyways.

 

There _has_ to be a reason I am here. I was hired by Lidan, hence he is the best place to start.” he finished more confidently

 

_Okay, he may not know other universes, magic, warlocks or whatever else, But he had been training to solve cases for the better part of his life_

_He **had** this_

 

 ** _Magnus_** was staring at him rather curiously, eyes flickering slightly

 

“I agree darling, So…you still thinking this is a delusion?”

 

Magnus smirked, raising his eyebrow

 

“No, I think this is a case. I have a suspect, means, and a motive, All we have to do is find the solution; This? I got this…”

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, yes, I know Magnus should have thought about Simon and Raphael at the convention, but it didn’t play into the narrative as of yet…
> 
> Give him a second, he just found out alternate universes exist and he still partially thinks he may be delusional…
> 
>  
> 
> Anyways,
> 
> **_I LOVE THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH!!!_ **
> 
> What do you guys think?
> 
>  


	9. Disappearances…Poor Alec

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec is having a REALLY bad day…
> 
> He runs into an old friend…
> 
>  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ****CHAPTER NOW COMPLETE****
> 
> Okay, so I was going to have a whole other second part to this, but this works too…
> 
> The other part will fit better with the next chapter anyways…
> 
> Hope you all like it
> 
> I love how this is going SO much...
> 
> (though I've totally shot any chance of keeping this under 40k  
>  oh well...It's worth it...  
>  I'll try to keep the next installment Shorter)
> 
> Hope you guys do too.

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**__ **

_Okay, so there's still the slightest possibility that he was just delusional…_

 

He was still holding out hope for that…But either this ‘toxin’ they had encountered was one of the most powerful hallucinogens ever encountered by man,

 

Or he was, in actuality, stone cold sober and helping two Magic hunting ‘Librarians’ (with the aid of another librarian, an immortal former knight of the round table, and a, frankly terrifying, _extremely_ powerful warlock version of himself) recover four magical objects and apprehend a warlock who apparently read one too many comic books and took the supervillains as a kind of life goal.

 

_Come on delusion…_

  
In the meantime he had a case to solve.

 

The Magic team (that’s what he was calling them, it was a lot shorter) was looking for info on their side on Lidan Campbell, specifically if they could find him going to _that_ Magnus’s house for the party a few nights ago.

 

Meanwhile The Psych Team ( _it fits okay, either it’s the team that has a fake psychic, or it’s the team that’s in need of a psych evaluation, either way it works_ ) Was looking into his story on this side.

 

"Okay, so, how will we do this? How do we find out if this Lidan is the warlock or just some guy with a crush on Magnus?" Ezekiel asked, somewhat at a loss.

 

It had been a while since he's worked an actual crime type case. Especially with someone who was an actual member of the police department.

 

_Well, okay, a fake psychic vaguely defrauding the SBPD, close enough._

 

He glanced over at Magnus

 

"Well...hopefully they'll get back to us quickly with a picture, if it’s the same man I met then we know for certain. In the meantime we need to-" he begins, but is cut off by the bell over the door

 

"Hey Magnus, everything okay?" Alec called, somewhat cautiously

  
  
_Oh crap!_

 

He never thought there'd be a time he actually _didn't_ want Alexander around, but he couldn't even begin to explain all of this to him. The man didn't even buy it when he just said a cat was talking to him (Okay, yeah he was lying then, _but that's beside the point)_

 

How in the hell would he even begin to explain to Alec that a delusional megalomaniac warlock from another universe was planning on using a magic feather in order to steal people's essences on the next full moon?

 

In a way that _didn’t_ end in him just nodding than taking Magnus to the nearest mental institution.

 

 _For heavens’ Sake,_ Alec already teased him about needing a psych evaluation; he didn't really need to give him actual proof to that effect. As Alec entered the back room He tried to shake it off and put on his brightest smile.

  
  
"Oh, hello darling, this is a nice surprise" Magnus said cheerily, crossing the room to stand next to him.

 

Alec gave him a somewhat relieved smile before casually scanning the room, checking for any anomalies, finally settling on Jake and Ezekiel. Magnus rolled his eyes, fighting off a groan...

 

Jake looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He was fidgeting and shifting, giving off so many 'I'm up to something' signals that he may as well be wearing a sign to that effect. No way a seasoned detective would miss it.

 

Magnus glanced towards Ezekiel, hoping for some help

 

_Oh good, kid was on it..._

 

Ezekiel looked a bit nervous too, but it was subtle enough it wasn't really noticeable. Magnus could practically see the just barely contained eye roll at Jake.

 

Ezekiel glanced at Alec, with a rather playful grin, sending an appreciative once over his way, before smirking at Magnus

 

"Wow, Magnus, I thought you where exaggerating...If anything you downplayed how hot he is."

 

Alec blushed

 

Jake snapped out of his awkwardness and glared _(at least he didn't look so suspicious now...)_

 

Magnus chuckled slightly,

 

_Yeah he liked the kid,_

 

Especially since he's decided to pester him about the whole Jake thing the second they're alone ( _hopeless crush? No... **Clueless** crush? ...Absolutely)_

 

"Uhh...thanks" Alec said awkwardly glancing between the two new men and giving a friendly smile, though Magnus still saw a slight flicker of suspicion before he covers it, stepping forward.

 

"Hey, I'm head detective Alec Lightwood."

 

Jake gave a slight smile, seemingly more back on track with the whole subtle thing, reaching over, giving a firm handshake

 

"Jake Stone, good to meet ya."

 

Ezekiel stepped forward, grinning flirtatiously.

 

"Hey detective, Ezekiel Jones. _Really_ great to meet you."

 

Alec blushes again, giving a slightly awkward smile, before glancing over at Magnus, his smile turning more genuine

 

_He really was just too adorable…_

  
"Yeah, umm…So, you guys are the investigators looking into the convention case, right?"

 

Magnus steps closer, ready to jump in if needed

 

Jake nods,

 

“Yeah, we’ve been lookin’ into it for a couple of days now.”

 

“How has it been so far? Any leads?”

 

Ezekiel shrugs slightly

 

“Actually, we kind of have one. We’re waiting to hear back from some friends of ours though. Honestly it’s been one dead end after another…At least till we ran into Magnus. He’s been a great help.” he finished sending a quick, warm smile at Magnus.

 

 Alec chuckled, nodding,

 

“Yeah, he is… most of the time.”

 

Magnus gave a slightly exaggerated gasp

 

“Hey! I am always helpful.”

 

Alec grinned, raising an eyebrow

 

“Yes, yes you are…when you’re not tricking me into attending a Scifi convention, or doing something completely insane.”

 

“Oh, I did not trick you!”

 

“Then why didn’t you tell me the case was at a Scifi convention?”

 

 “It just slipped my mind…”

 

 Alec rolled his eyes, scoffing

 

“Sure it did.”

 

“And anyways, it _**is**_ an actual case now, I would have had to call you in anyways, otherwise you know how you over think it when I make any move on a case without you.”

 

Alec chuckled, shaking his head,

 

“Not ‘any’, just the crazy ones…And, once again, it is NOT _overreacting_ ; it’s just being prepared for the worst, or with you, the _craziest_ , possibility…

 

Also, see how he ignored the ‘something completely insane’ part? That’s because he has no argument against it” Alec said, eyes alight with mirth, sending a smirk towards the other two men.

 

“I just haven’t got there, and I’m really not _that_ bad!”

 

“The cat-”

 

“Oh come on, don’t start that again”

 

“The assembly at the school?”

 

“Hey! That worked; and we ended up with a videotaped confession and about 400 witnesses!”

 

“And the bank-”

 

“I apologized, and anyways, _it_ _worked_ ”

 

“The sleeping gr-”

 

“ _That_ was on the bank case, we’ve already covered that!”

 

Alec chuckled again, raising his eyebrow playfully, shaking his head

 

“Okay, so, a newer one then?”

 

Magnus gestured for him to continue; he was trying to look annoyed but couldn’t help the slight, affectionate, smile

 

_Yeah, amused, teasing Alexander was definitely he favorite_

 

_That smirk should be illegal_

 

“Well how about you trailing a suspicious person around a convention, then, when you find that said suspicious person ‘obviously’ broke into a locked room, rather than, oh, say… calling for backup or going back later, or, well, _anything_ else…Break into the room as well?”

 

Ezekiel gasped

 

“Hey! I’m not suspicious! And you were following me?”

 

Jake snickered slightly, raising his eyebrow

 

“So much for being stealthy”

 

Alec grinned, shrugging a little

 

“ _Actually_ , he was tailing both of you for quite a while”

 

“Wait! You were? How long?!” Jake exclaimed

 

Magnus nodded sheepishly

 

“Umm, about two hours or so…Before you guys split up.”

 

They both stared in shock

 

“Bu-w-h-how _the_ _hell did you do that!?_ It’s not like you blend in!”

 

 Alec gave a bright laugh, shaking his head, before turning to Magnus with a warm smile, tilting his head slightly

 

_Magnus fought down a truly embarrassing sigh or giggle,_

 

By now he’d given up trying to keep the racing heart and breathlessness that always accompanied that look in check. It’d been a lost cause from the start.

 

 “Yeah, I kinda wondered about that myself…I can’t imagine anyone NOT noticing you.”

 

 _Dear god, was he actually,_ _purposefully_ _flirting?_ _And he thought his heart was racing **before** …Damn, he is SO not prepared for an actual, intentionally flirting Alexander_

 

 Magnus blushed faintly, giving a slightly breathless laugh,

 

“Well, thank you, my darling detective…”

 

Alec leaned a bit closer, slipping his arm around Magnus. This time Magnus couldn’t quite contain the sigh, or from nestling securely against his side.

 

 “So, how did you actually manage to keep from getting noticed?” Alec asked, softly

 

Magnus grinned

 

“Well darling, I _had_ spotted them first, when you are watching someone it’s easy enough to avoid their attention. Plus, it helped that most everyone there was in some type of costume, brilliant colors and makeup.”

 

Alec chuckled warmly,

 

“I guess that would help… though I still find it hard to believe.”

 

“Oh, you do, h-”

 

He was cut off by Ezekiel’s phone pinging with a message

 

_Oops, he kinda forgot they had company_

 

 Magnus turned slightly,

 

“Is that the-”

 

Ezekiel nodded, showing the phone to Jake before coming over to them, holding it for Magnus to see

 

“Yeah, they found a photo…Is this Lidan?”

 

 Magnus looked over the picture, nodding

 

“Yeah, that’s him. Can you send copies to me and Alec, please?”

 

Ezekiel nodded

 

“Why did you need a picture of the guy who hired you?” Alec asked, glancing at the others

 

Magnus turned to him eagerly,

 

“That's the break we needed…See, we found evidence that Lidan may actually be the guy behind everything. They have a few friends looking into it back home. It seems that whoever is behind this first began with stealing a ring during some kind of party.They were looking into footage from the event to see if the thief was caught on camera and if it was the same man I met in my office.”

 

 Alec nodded consideringly glancing between the three men, before settling back on Magnus

 

 “So, I take it it’s the same guy?”

 

 Magnus nodded,

 

 “Yes, so at least now we have the suspect…”

 

 Their phones pinged with the message; Alec took his phone out to look over the picture.

 

 “Okay, that’s good, maybe I could…”

 

 He stopped mid sentence, staring at the photo. He suddenly looked alarmed. Magnus put his hand lightly on his arm.

 

“Alexander, darling, what’s wrong?”

 

He glanced up, shaking his head, before hitting a few buttons on the phone

 

“The other day at the convention, I saw him- _Damnit_ , voicemail”

 

He hit the call button again, somewhat frantically

 

“Well, wh-”

 

He shook his head agitatedly,

 

"No, Magnus, _I saw him when I was with Jace…_ I’m pretty sure they left together. And now he’s not answering his phone.”

 

He hit the call button again

 

 Ezekiel and Jake were looking on, rather alarmed

 

“Who’s-”

 

“His brother, he wa-” Magnus explained

 

 “Oh, thank god, Jace I-

 

This is Head Detective Lightwood of the SBPD.  Who the hell is this and why do you have my brother’s phone?” Alec demanded, hitting the speaker button so the rest of them could hear 

 

“Uhh…t-this is Blake…sorry dude, sir, I mean detective, uh I-I just heard the phone ringing so I answered it…”

 

“Where did you find it? Where are you?”

 

“I’m at the Santa Barbra Scifi Convention. I-it, sorry dude; it was in a trash bin, right by the door…I’m not in trouble, am I?

 

 _I swear_ I just answered it cause it was weird and I thought maybe, like, the person who lost it was calling trying to find it or something…Oh man…”

 

“Blake? Blake what?

 

“S-Summers”

 

“Which door was it by?”

 

“Look detective, sir, I swear I wasn’t up to anything…I jus-”

 

**“Which. Door.”**

 

“T-the one on the left…right by the Supernatural booth.”

 

“Okay, you are not in trouble, but stay where you are…I will be there in ten minutes…Do not leave, _**understand?”**_

 

“Y-yes, sir”

 

Alec hung up, zeroing in on Ezekiel and Jake; he stood up to his full height, crossing his arms, all traces of humor gone.

 

“I don’t have time to question you, but you were both lying, I don’t know what kind of game you were playing or what you’re doing here, but you are not PI’s. This is my brother; you two are going to tell Magnus everything you have been leaving out.

 

**Every. Last. Thing.**

 

Do you understand me?”

 

They both just nodded, seemingly unable to do anything else

 

He turned to Magnus

 

“Magnus, find out everything you can from them, then meet me there, I really need you on this.

  
I’ll call into the station and ha-”

 

“Wait, you can’t call them in on this” Magnus interrupted shaking his head frantically

 

 Alec gave him a disbelieving look

 

 “What the hell do you mean? Of course I’m calling in-”

 

“No, it’s really complicated and the police would-”

 

 Alec looked shocked, almost betrayed

 

 “W-what do you mean? What aren’t you telling me?”

 

“It’s…They _have_ told me why they were lying.”

 

“Well, what is it?”

 

“I-It’s crazy and you wouldn’t believe it, but they are telling the truth…”

 

“ _ **Damnit**_ _Magnus_ , I don’t have time for games right now, just tell me…and why it means I can’t call in back up?”

 

“I-It’s they, oh hell…They’re Interpol agents…Lidan, they’ve been tracking him for a while and this is their only chance to catch him…

 

He’s a scientist. He worked for their government but completely lost it and went underground. He created a toxin that’s influencing the patrons, making them believe they are whatever they were costumed as, along with a whole host of other things…But when I say he’s lost it, _I mean completely._

 

He’s gotten the idea that he is actually a warlock from another universe and has the ability to steal people’s essences and abilities using, what _he_ believes, is a Magic feather from a siren on the next full moon. Which is tomorrow…

 

He won’t hurt any of the people until then, _**If**_ he thinks he’s getting away with it…But he’s also a total sociopath and if he finds out we’re onto him, he may very well kill them. We need to find where he’s keeping the people and get them out before then, only without drawing any more attention than absolutely necessary.

 

He is extremely paranoid and does have control over the event…As well as the security.

 

We cannot risk him finding out we know what he’s doing, if he does, then it is entirely possible he will kill all of them and just disappear, And we do not know what else he has cooked up…” He finished, looking at Alec, somewhat desperately

 

Alec looked totally shocked, concerned and slightly overwhelmed

 

“Darling, I- I know how unbelievable it sounds but it is the truth…They have experience with this, and this is the closest they have gotten to him. I truly think we can solve this, get them out safely and apprehend him; however, the more people we get involved, the more likely it is that Lidan will figure it out…

 

 _ **Please**_ , _Alexander_ , I know what this sounds like, but I really need you to trust me on this.”

  
  
Alec shook his head slightly

 

“Magnus, I- I do, _you know I do…_ But this is _**Jace.**_ ”

 

“I understand that, I truly do…That’s why it is so imperative that we have no slip ups. I would not ask if I was not sure that we could do it; that this was the best chance we have.”

 

Alec took a deep breath, giving a nearly imperceptible nod

 

“O-okay, Magnus…I trust you, and I trust your judgment. I won’t call anyone else in, but I need to go to the convention and find out what I can.

 

Work with them, get whatever information you can from them and their team and then let me know…I’ll call you with whatever I find.”

 

Magnus nodded

 

“Of course, darling.”

 

Alec started to turn, but Magnus stopped him, catching his arm, he turns him back around, quickly pulling Alec down into a frantic, desperate kiss.

 

“W-what?” Alec stammered, breathlessly

 

“For luck, also, I just really wanted to…Please be careful?”

  
  
Alec nodded, pulling him close for a moment

 

“Yeah, you too” He said, before turning again for the door and striding out.

 

Magnus took a deep breath and squared his shoulders turning to face the Librarians, pinning them with a look that would seem much more at home on Warlock Magnus

 

“Okay boys, I just assured Alexander that we would be able to solve this and save his brother…

 

I already lied once

 

 _ **Do not**_ make me a liar again…"

 

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**__ **

**__ **

_How could this possibly go so bad so fast?_

 

 Yesterday he’d thought this was nothing more than just a few people going overboard at a Scifi convention and some other’s overreacting about being ditched by their friends.

 

Now his brother was missing and Magnus was back at his office working with a couple of Interpol agents trying to get information on an actual, honest to god, mad scientist who was convinced he was a universe hopping warlock, trying to use a feather to steal peoples essences.

 

If it wasn’t for the kidnapped people, random unknown toxins, and the fact that the man sounded deranged and totally willing to kill the hostages should his plan fail, it would almost be so crazy it was funny…

 

  _As it was, he just felt sick and verging on panicked._

 

 He really hoped Magnus and their team could come up with something, because this was more than a bit out of his range of experience. He’d arrived at the convention about half an hour ago, meeting with Blake to find out everything he knew. That took all of ten minutes, and most of that was spent on him reassuring the panicked kid that he wasn’t going to be arrested and thrown into jail over answering a phone.

 

 After that he was rather at a loss…He couldn’t call in back up, he had promised Magnus, and his reasoning did seem sound.

 

  _At least assuming those two were being honest **THIS** time…_

 

 He didn’t think he’d ever meet someone who’d be able to get one over on Magnus, but he’d never seen him go up against actual agents trained for deception. Still, he had to believe that, even if he wasn’t getting ALL the information from them, he’d be able to tell enough to know if he could trust them or not.

 

And he genuinely seemed to.

 

 Magnus did say that Lidan had control over the event, as well as the security, but the only way he could think to get more information was if he actually saw security footage of the event… 

 

If he could see Lidan and Jace leaving maybe he could get some kind of clues… Or, if not, he could get a copy of it and have Magnus go over it looking for clues. He was certain he’d be able to come up with something, he always could.

 

 Lidan may have control of the event, but if he’s as out there as he seems surely someone would pick up on something. He made his way to the security station. It was located in a room down a hall a ways from the actual convention.

 

He knocked lightly on the door before opening it, beginning to talk before he was even all the way in.

 

 “Hi, sorry to bother you,  I’m-”

 

 “Detective Lightwood?!” A warm, rich, vaguely familiar voice asked, with a laugh

 

He froze, glancing up

 

 “Maddie?!” he asked shocked

 

 “Hey, Oh my god! I haven’t seen you in years!” She exclaimed moving over to him, pulling him into a quick hug.

 

 Matilda Imari had been a sergeant at his old precinct; before he’d joined the SBPD. She was sharp, quick, brave and just a really first-rate officer in general. She’d helped him quite a bit before he was officially made a detective and partnered with Hodge…

 

 Really she was one of the reasons he’d came out shortly after joining the SBPD. She was one of the first people he’d met on the job that was actually out.…She didn’t constantly talk about it, but she never hid it… She’d been much like he was now-

 

_Okay, a bit more out than that;_

 

 She actually _did_ have a little rainbow flag on her desk.

 

 She’d bought it after another officer made a smartass homophobic comment about a witness that’d been helpful enough to come in and give a statement...Hadn’t said a word to the guy, just the next day she’d casually placed the flag and a picture of her wife prominently on her desk, before subtlety winking at Alec.

 

_She really was kinda awesome._

 

She was strong willed, never backing down; she didn’t mince words and would never let people’s opinions get her to her.

 

 _He’d_ loved that about her…Others, not so much.

 

 There’d been some drama, a few of the bigots there (there’d been kinda a lot at that precinct) had got together and set to ruin her career. Always second guessing her work. They were always just a bit too slow to get there when she called for backup… They’d constantly accuse her of tampering with evidence,

 

 After nearly two years of it she’d had enough and ended up quitting.

 

 He’d put in his transfer the same day she left. He remembered hearing that she’d got a job in security.

 

  _This was definitely promising…_

 

If Maddie was the security here, then he had an in, and they had some help.

 

 He breathed a sigh of relief…

 

 “It’s really good to see you too, so you are the security guard here?” he asked hopefully

 

 She grinned, shrugging slightly

 

“Yeah, well, actually not just for this place, I’ve been working with a private security firm for the last few years, we got hired for extra security here for this Scifi thing” She shook her head, rolling her eyes

 

 “Man, these people are out there…Who knew there were so many oddballs in Santa Barbra?” she finished, smirking

 

 “You were a cop here for over a decade, you know how weird they are.”

 

She gave a quick bark of a laugh

 

 “True enough. So, what are you doing here?”

 

 He took a deep breath, shaking his head, the worry seeping back in. She instantly sobered, looking concerned.

 

 “What’s wrong?”

 

 “I am so glad that you’re the security here, I really need your help with something…” He began

 

 She nodded

 

 “Of course Alec. What’s up?”

 

 “Okay, so I’m gonna preface this by telling you flat out: This is all gonna sound completely crazy and I know that, but I swear I am being honest and am not crazy or joking or anything like that.” He hedged, glancing at her to see if she believed him

 

 She rolled her eyes slightly

 

 “Alec? I have met you: you don’t really ‘joke’ much, and quite frankly you weren’t really good at it, and you have always been one of the sanest people I’ve ever met. Out with it.”

 

 He took a deep breath

 

 “Alright, so, this psychic that works with my precinct caught a case here at the convention and asked me to come along as backup, well, _tricked_ me into attending a scifi convention with him and a few of our friends/ work partners, whatever.

 

 Up till yesterday we thought it was basically just a bunch of people overreacting or getting too into this thing. But now he is working with two guys who claim to be Interpol agents and their ‘team’ back home trying to track down a crazy scientist who went off the rails and created a toxin that is making people forget who they are and believe they are their characters, and apparently a whole host of other things.

 

Anyways, crazy scientist guy has got it into his head that he is, in fact, a warlock from another universe and is kidnapping people in an attempt to use a magic feather to take their ‘essences’, _whatever that means,_ on the next full moon,

 

Meaning tomorrow night…

 

 And I know that sounds crazy and boarding on absurdly funny,

 

But the guy has actually kidnapped people and the agents and Magnus believe that if he figures out we’re onto him he will actually kill all the hostages and as he is kind of in charge of this event and paranoid as hell, we didn’t want to call in a lot of other help and tip him off…”

 

 He trailed off, pausing for breath, and to gauge her reaction. Her eyes were wide, she was staring rather uncomprehendingly.

 

 “Umm…okay, Alec? I, uh, I know I said I’d believe you, but…Are you _sure_ you’re alright? This isn’t just ‘out there’ this is like, heavy tranquilizers, padded room, kinda out there…”

 

 He shook his head

 

 “Maddie, I know that, I really do, but it is the truth, and someone I really trust, who can read people better than anyone I have ever met, believes this guy will kill these people if we don’t find them before tomorrow night… I would not lie about this, especially since one of the hostages is my brother.”

 

 “Wait, _what_? How did your bro-”

 

 “My brother Jace, he’s an actor, I guess he got a part on some cheesy scifi show and he was here promoting the show and debuting the character…The last time I saw him he was going over to talk to Lidan and now someone found his phone in a trashcan right by the door”

 

 She stood a bit straighter, deep ebony eyes going sharp. He remembered that look. He breathed another sigh of relief

 

 He did have back up

 

 “Lidan Campbell? That’s your suspect?”

 

 He nodded

 

 She scoffed shaking her head

 

 “Oh man, I _knew_ there was something off about that guy, just didn’t know dude was ‘wacked out, universe hopping Warlock’ off…What do you need?”

 

 “The security footage of the event, over by the left door, that’s where his phone was…When I saw him last it was just after three.”

 

 She nodded leading him to the back part of the security office and cuing up the footage, running it through,

 

 “You have a pic of him? It’d be faster if I know what I’m looking for, too…”

 

 He nodded getting his phone out, pulling up a picture of Jace, Max and Izzy

 

 “The blond guy”

 

 She nodded starting the footage running on a few of the monitors

 

 “I’ll watch the door footage, but check some of the others, see if you can spot Lidan, I want to know where else he went.”

 

Alec nodded watching the footage

 

 “I’m actually gonna call the other guys working the case with us…They should be around here somewhere; maybe they can help find some information.”

 

 She absently nodded, still scanning, he dialed Raphael’s number first, it went straight to voicemail. Alec got a bit of a sinking feeling…

 

  _Still, Raphael ignoring him wasn’t exactly proof of anything._

 

 He quickly hit Simon’s number

 

 Voicemail again

 

 Alec gripped the phone a bit tighter

 

Raphael ignored people…

 

 _Simon_ _didn’t_

 

  _Okay, okay, don’t panic…_

 

 They could just be busy, or ‘together’ and just don’t want to be disturbed…

 

_Still…_

 

 He pulled out his phone, opening a picture Magnus had sent him that his friend Clary had taken of them all together.

 

 He leaned over near Maddie

 

 “Hey, keep an eye out for these guys too. They’re my friends that were helping with the case, they should be here, but both their phones are off. They are a couple, they could just be together and not want to be disturbed, but with this case and Jace already missing I really don’t like this.”

 

She nodded, glancing at the picture before zeroing in on it again, shooting a look at him, raising her eyebrow slightly, 

 

“So…with all the universe hopping warlock craziness, you kinda glossed over the whole you now apparently working with a psychic…

 

I’m gonna take a wild guess he’s the ridiculously pretty guy you’re making eyes at in the pic?”

 

 “I _-I wasn’t,_ I was listening, he was telling a funny story, that’s all.”

 

 She gave him a sarcastic look

 

 “Alec, dude, you look half a step away from having Anime heart eyes.”

 

 He gave her a blank look

 

 “I don’t know what that means.”

 

 “It means you are _completely **gone**_ over this guy.”

 

“I’m not, oh, you know what? We don’t have time for this, okay?

 

 _Yeah_ alright? I like the guy, _a lot…_ He’s gorgeous, brilliant, and funny and probably the most incredible person I have ever met. He’s fascinating and he drives me _absolutely crazy_ ,

 

 Both in a good way and in a bad way.

 

 He drives me crazy because he has an annoying habit of making me blush and it aggravates me but it also kinda _doesn’t_ because he usually does it by flirting or complimenting or kissing me so I’m kinda totally okay with _that_ crazy…Then he drives me crazy because he is brave and fearless, and totally brilliant and can figure anything out…

 

_And he KNOWS that damn good and well,_

 

 So he tends to jump into the insanity with both feet and figures he’ll find a way out later.

 

 But, none of that matters right now, okay? My brother is missing. Two of my closest friends, one of which is my _partner_ , may be missing. We need to focus on the case, not my love life, or lack thereof,  _Please...”_

 

She nodded turning back to the screens 

 

“You’re right… check those screens, see if you can find the-Hey, this is him right? Jace?” She asked, pausing the screen for him to see

 

“Yeah, that’s him”

 

She started the footage

 

It showed Jace and Lidan walking to the door, smiling and flirting, As they exited the door they saw Lidan subtlety toss the phone in the bin…Alec took a deep breath, okay, he’d known, but actually seeing his brother leaving with the guy, Seeing proof that the guy was really up to something…

 

Up till now he’d been hoping that it was still just some big misunderstanding. That somehow Jace had just lost his phone and it was all just a big coincidence. That he was okay and just ignoring him because he was bored with the case questions or had hooked up with someone.

 

 “O-okay, so he’s definitely up to something, let’s find Simon and Raphael. Simon texted yesterday about 11am, saying they were still looking around but hadn’t found anything yet. He’d mentioned the booth for something called ‘the Orville’… do you know where that is? Can you get the footage from then?”

 

She nodded, all business, typing quickly and pulling it up

 

“There they are!” he said, spotting them

 

He couldn’t stop a slight smile watching them…Simon looked beyond happy; he was chattering and bouncing around from one booth to the next, tugging Raphael along.

 

Poor Raphael looked like he was nearing his wits end, but then he’d look at Simon and his look would soften, he would get a warm, totally enamored smile.

 

Maddie chuckled slightly

 

“Man, your partner must have the patience of a saint…He looks like he’s at the end of his rope.”

 

Alec laughed, shaking his head faintly

 

“Uh, no, that’s Raphael, he works with Magnus. My partners the one bouncing around like a puppy, dragging him about.”

 

She glanced over surprised

 

 “Really, He’s a detective? Kid doesn’t even look old enough to be a cop.”

 

 Alec shrugged

 

 “Yeah, he’s young, but he’s good. Best partner I’ve ever had.”

 

She smiled

 

“That’s good…you two don’t have any trouble with the SBPD?” 

 

He shook his head 

 

“No, actually I’ve been out since I started there, Simon too, though I think that’s just because the guy’s pretty much incapable of hiding anything…Believe me, he tried to learn to lie a while ago, it didn’t go well.

 

But it’s actually a really great precinct.

 

Especially since Luke came in. He’s our chief; he came in about ten months ago. He’s a really great man, very supportive.

 

Actually, about a month ago during a case some things happened and it kinda started going around that me and Magnus were together- we’re NOT, but it did and I got fed up trying to deny it cause I have been almost since Magnus started with us…

 

Anyways, Luke actually kind of joked with me about it, he believed me, and told me that if anyone gives us any real problems to let him know and he’ll take care of it. He said that if anyone has issues with it then they need to adjust or find another place to work.”

 

She gave an impressed nod

 

“Wow, that’s awesome.”

 

He nodded

 

“Yeah… hey, I know why you left our old precinct, but if you ever decide to get back on the force, you really should look into the SBPD. Come by and talk to Luke, I’m sure you’d get on well…”

 

She shrugged slightly, nodding

 

“I might look into that…Hey, what are they doing now? I thought he was a detective, why is he sneaking his boyfriend into a room that’s supposed to be off limits?” she asked, smirking, raising an eyebrow

 

Alec looked at the screen, seeing Simon tugging Raphael in. He chuckled somewhat, rolling his eyes affectionately, relieved.

 

 _Okay, so, they snuck into a room to have some time alone…_ _Maybe they just forgot to turn their phones back on…_  

 

“Thank you, Maddie, this was really helpful. Do you think you ca…”

 

 He trailed off, when something on the screen caught his eye.

 

 “Wait, that’s Lidan” he said leaning forward,

 

On the screen he saw the man in question talking with three other guys. They looked really agitated; they kept bombarding him with questions…They headed up the hallway… Alec’s heart jumped slightly when he saw Lidan reach for the same door Simon and Raphael had went in.

 

They hadn’t seen them come out yet.

 

 _“Damnit”_ Maddie muttered

 

 The two of them watched the screen, barely breathing, watching the timestamp click by… About fifteen minutes later, Lidan exited the room; he looked calm and rather smug, with a slightly unhinged smile.

 

No one else left the room

 

“What the hell?” Maddie asked, alarmed 

 

Alec shook his head 

 

“I don’t know, but I’m damn sure going to find out.” 

 

She nodded standing up,

 

 “I’m coming with you” 

 

She reached in a drawer on the security desk, pulling out a lock box removing her gun putting it in the holster. He raised his eyebrow slightly

 

 She shrugged

 

“What? I kept up with my certifications just in case, and I have a conceal and carry.”

 

  “Wasn’t gonna ask” He muttered as they rushed out of the room towards the hallway

 

 Reaching the room, he tried the door, it was locked. Maddie stepped forward using her key, before stepping back, letting him take the lead. He gave her a grateful nod before cautiously opening the door.  His heart felt like it was in his throat as he slowly opened the door, dreading what he might find…a whole swarm of horrible images and scenarios springing to mind.

 

 He tried to brace himself for the worst, looking around,

 

 Then just froze…

 

 The room was empty.

 

 There were a few racks of costumes, and set pieces and the like, but there were no people, and no hint that anything bad had happened.

 

 “What? This _is_ the right room, right?” he asked, glancing over at her

 

 She nodded

 

 “Yeah, this was where they came…But I don’t see anything.”

 

 He shook his head; totally confused…he got a bit of a weird thought, but brushed it off just as fast.

 

_This case must just be getting to him_

 

 They spread out, searching the room, but could find no real evidence…

 

Maddie sniffed, tilting her head slightly

 

 “That’s weird…does it smell strange to you?”

 

 He sniffed, then nodded

 

 “Yeah, it’s kind of like the ozone smell of a lightning storm…Wait, what’s this?” he asked leaning down pointing at some kind of bright orangish powder type residue near one corner

 

 She looked closer, shaking her head, giving a very unsettled look

 

 “I-I really don’t know…I’ve never seen anything like that. You did say the agent guys said Lidan was some kind of scientist, that he made some kind of toxin type thing? Maybe that’s what this is…

 

We probably shouldn’t be breathing this. We need to get out of here, we’ll lock the door and try keeping others out, but we don’t want Lidan knowing we were here…I’ll watch the door from the cameras.”

 

 Alec nodded, following her to the door, pulling out his phone

 

“Yeah, I’ll call Magnus…god I don’t want to tell him Raphael and Simon are missing too… Raphael is like his family and he adores Simon. But he needs to know.”

 

 He hits the call button waiting for the ring…

 

 “Lucky you, you’ve reached Mag-”

 

 Alec feels his heart stop when Magnus’s phone, too, goes straight to voicemail

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> Okay, So I wasn’t even planning to have yet _another_ OC on top of everything else, but I wanted a way Alec could get the security guard to help him without it getting back to Lidan and this just popped into my head
> 
>  
> 
> Hey, at least someone finally realized Simon and Raphael are Missing.
> 
> ** Name Game: **
> 
>   Matilda: Mighty In Battle
> 
> Imari: Faithful
> 
>  
> 
> I really like how this is going…
> 
>  
> 
> Three chapters left
> 
>  
> 
> What do you guys think so Far?


	10. Partner Swap (No, not like that)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> ** Summery: **
> 
> Magnus, Ezekiel and Jake search for information,
> 
> Jake leaves them alone for a minute just to get something to eat
> 
> _Jake really should have known better_

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**__ **

 “…and we’re in!” Ezekiel exclaimed clicking a few last buttons

 

“What? Really!?” Magnus asked, amazed, looking over his shoulder at the screen

 

He gave a delighted laugh, slipping his arm around Ezekiel, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek

 

Ezekiel blushed

 

“You are absolutely AMAZING sweetheart!”

 

 “I know” he said with a smirk

 

 “Right, so, what are we looking for, what’s this Jace dude look like?”

 

“Uhh…I don’t have a photo of him…Just a second…Ah, Here, this is from his show, he’s the smirking blond guy.” 

 

Ezekiel glanced at the picture, Jake leaning over to see the photo too.

 

“That’s Alec’s brother?  Man not much family resemblance is there?” Jake muttered 

 

Magnus shrugged

 

“He’s adopted. Alec’s parents took him in. He’s rather obnoxious, but he’s Alec’s family, and I absolutely adore Alec’s other brother and Sister. We really have to find him, It would devastate all of them should something happen to him.”

 

“Of course, we’ll find him.” Ezekiel assured

 

“Actually, just a sec…”

 

He got his phone out, sending out a quick text to Cassie. His phone made a quick chime.

 

“Yes! Right, so, Cassie just sent me this program of mine from back home… it’s a kind of facial recognition system…It’ll take a bit to download, but when it does we should be able to find him, no problem.”

 

Magnus grins, shaking his head

 

“Amazing…” He exclaimed, leaning over, kissing his cheek again

 

Jake chuckled

 

“Yeah, he’s somethin’ else” he said with a smirk

 

Ezekiel grinned

 

“Thanks”

 

Jake shrugged

 

“Well, you are…Though this time I actually mean that as a compliment.”

 

“Hey!”

 

Jake chuckled, shaking his head; he rested his hand on Ezekiel’s shoulder, squeezing lightly, before glancing over towards Magnus, sobering slightly

 

 “I’m real sorry you all got mixed up in this. Really wish we coulda kept you out of it.”

 

 Magnus shook his head

 

 “Darling, none of this is your fault; you’re not the psychotic universe hopping warlock/supervillian in training…You’re just trying to stop him.

 

It seems that this Lidan has had designs on me from the beginning of this. At least with you here we have a shot. Otherwise we wouldn’t know what the hell was going on; I mean, I’m good, and I think Alec, Raphael, Simon and I can solve just about anything… but really there is no way we’d be prepared to go up against the equivalent of a delusional supernaturally powered Bond villain without you.”

 

 Ezekiel let out a quick laugh at the description

 

 Jake gave a friendly smile

 

 “Well then, glad we could help.”

 

 Ezekiel nodded

 

 “Yeah, well, I’m glad we’re on this side working with THIS Magnus…Warlock Magnus is _terrifying_!”

 

 Jake grinned

 

 “Aww…but he ‘quite likes you, Ezekiel Jones’” he teased

 

 “Hey! He was flirting with you too…”

 

 Magnus snickered

 

“Oh, I don’t know…I kinda like him.”

 

 “Of course you do, he’s a more intimidating, overdramatic, borderline villainish version of you!”

 

Magnus gave a slight sigh,

 

 “It is a bit disillusioning though”

 

 “What?”

 

 “Apparently I’m the normal, boring, version of Magnus…” he fake pouted

 

 “Yeah, I don’t think anyone would ever say you were boring” Ezekiel laughed shaking his head

 

 “Or normal” Jake teased, with a bit of a smirk

 

 Magnus laughed, shrugging slightly

 

_He kinda had him there_

 

They settled into companionable silence for a few minutes, each seemingly lost in their own thoughts.

 

  He’d noticed that Jake really seemed to be warming up. Maybe he finally realized that he wasn’t actually after Ezekiel, Or maybe he was just caught up in the whole Ezekiel telling Warlock Magnus that they were a couple.

 

 Magnus hadn’t missed the quick look of surprise, or the kind of considering looks he’d been sending towards Ezekiel since…

 

  **Magnus** hadn’t, Ezekiel was totally clueless.

 

 Once they had this all sorted he really needed to figure a way to get those two to talk.

 

 “Hey, I know this is really important, but I don’t think any of us have had anything to eat since this morning. While that’s finishing up I’m just gonna run out and grab us something.”

 

Ezekiel nodded gratefully

 

 “Wonderful idea, thank you dear.”

 

 He shrugged giving a bit of a smile

 

 “Eh, no problem…Be right back.”

 

 They sat for a bit watching the download click away, Ezekiel glanced over at Magnus.

 

“Hey, so…I kinda wanted to ask you, how are you really doing with all this? I mean, I know you’ve been joking and you seem to be taking the whole crazy other universe, magic is real, doppelganger, thing really well…

 

But I kind of get the feeling that, even if you weren’t, no one would really know.”

 

 Magnus smiled warmly, shaking his head

 

“Honestly I really don’t know how I’m taking it. It is completely insane, and if I stop to really think about everything I’d probably end up having a panic attack or something. Generally crazy is kind of my wheelhouse, but this is a whole universe away from my brand of crazy,

 

_Literally…_

 

I have a feeling when this is all over it may end with me actually checking myself in for a psych evaluation. But, I don’t have time for any of that. There are people in danger, who will almost certainly die if we don’t figure this out…One of which is Alexander’s brother.

 

None of the craziness matters, not when there are lives on the line. So I am just approaching this the same as I would any case.

 

Focus on the suspect

 

Find the evidence

 

Solve the case

 

I know how to do that.

 

It’s the best I can do at this point.”

 

 He finished with a shrug. He laughed, shaking his head slightly

 

 “God I can only imagine what Simon and Raph would say if they knew all the craziness…”

 

 He trailed off, eyes going wide

 

 “Oh my god…”

 

 Magnus got out his phone, frantically hitting Raphael’s number

 

 Voicemail…

 

 “No, no…no…no…”

 

 He hit Simon’s number, shaking slightly

 

 Voicemail…

 

 “What?” Ezekiel asked concerned

 

  “I-I, t-they were at the convention, investigating… well I told them to, I think Simon was just wanting to go back, but they were there…I got distracted with the other universe thing and the other Magnus thing and I was just too distracted and I never called them when we found out about Lidan,

 

I never **warned** them…

 

 And now both their phones are off and I haven’t heard from them since yesterday morning. Raph never came home, but the night before they’d stayed at Simon’s so I just thought that’s what they did and…Oh my god…” he trailed off shaking his head, 

 

“Okay, the program just finished…We think we know what happened with Jace, send me that picture of them, we’ll find them, track them around the event”

 

 Magnus nodded, pulling up the picture, sending it to him

 

 “God…If something happened to them and I didn’t even notice they were missing…” he trailed off shaking his head again

 

 Ezekiel reached over, putting his hand on his shoulder

 

“Hey, It’s okay, alright?

 

You said it yourself; he won’t hurt anyone till tomorrow night, when he can use the feather…Even if he does have them, they are still okay, we still have time. We will find them, all of them, but in order to do that we need you to be able to focus, to investigate and solve the case, Right?” he asked, locking eyes with Magnus

 

 Magnus nodded,

 

 He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He opened his eyes; he seemed oddly blank, almost cold. The look reminded Ezekiel of Warlock Magnus

 

 “Okay, let’s find them.”

 

 Ezekiel booted up the program, imputing the photo with Simon and Raphael… In a matter of seconds it pulled up a feed with them walking through the convention, Simon bounding about happily, Raphael resignedly following along.

 

 They wandered from booth to booth, Simon chattering away.  At one point Simon took Raphaels hand and lead him through the event and down a hallway,

 

 He tried a few doors before finding one unlocked and pulling him in…Magnus gave a bit of a weak smile, but it froze when a few minutes later Lidan himself, came along the same hallway, arguing with three other men.

 

Ezekiel gasped when they went into the same room as Raphael and Simon …Magnus leaned forward

 

“Is there any footage from inside that room?”

 

Ezekiel shook his head, then paused

 

“Wait, there isn’t any from the security feeds, but it looks like someone else had another camera set up in there on a separate server, looks like the footage is fed directly to the cloud. It’s automatically transmitted to a phone when the camera’s tripped…The phone is registered to Lidan Campbell. He knew they were in there. I can get access to the footage”

 

 He typed quickly, the screen jumped to the room… they saw Simon and Raphael enter the room, talk for a moment and kiss…Then the door opens,

 

 Simon and Raph duck behind a rack of costumes, staying out of sight… The men argue, it escalates. Then Lidan raises his hand

 

 Magnus gasps as a cloud of Red and orange smoke erupts, enveloping the three man, they disappear. On the screen he sees Lidan freeze, then turn to where Simon and Raphael are hiding, he raises his hand, and the cloud envelopes them as well. When it dissipates, there is no one in the room but Lidan.

 

 “I thought you said he wasn’t that powerful? That seems pretty powerful to me” Magnus says quietly

 

 Ezekiel shrugs

 

 “That’s what Cassie said, and I think she’d be right, she tends to know about everything. I don’t really have much experience with warlocks; maybe that isn’t really much of anything to them.”

 

“Well it is here”

 

 “I know I –”

 

Magnus cut him off, shaking his head; he stood up beginning to pace the floor, he closed his eyes going over everything, letting it all fall into place…

 

 “You know what? I don’t care…he has powers; other suspects have guns, bombs, or poison or whatever else…The type of weapon doesn’t matter, He’s armed, that’s that.

 

 He took them, he knew they were in the room, he saw them on camera, he picked that room intentionally, he had his keys, there were seven other empty offices on that hall he could have used.

 

He recognized them from my office, I saw it in his expression, and in that satisfied smirk, which, if I get close enough, I am going to knock right off his smug, arrogant face.

 

 Me being here is not a coincidence, He went to Warlock Magnus’s party, he wouldn’t so much as give him the time of day, he said as much. He wouldn’t have noticed the man…

 

When he came to my office he looked verging on star struck. He’d said he had read all about me, then qualified that with my cases…I think he knew all about Warlock Magnus, obviously enough to know that he had a ring that allows people to traverse dimensions… But he’d mentioned my cases as well. Specifically the bank case.

 

He talked about how we’d uncovered the trafficking ring and how amazing it was that we tracked them to the warehouse… He’d known details of the property. It’s back on the market now…”

 

 “What’s the address?”

 

 “1032 Lasette way”

 

 Ezekiel nodded, typing faster than Magnus could follow

 

“It was purchased four days ago- By ‘Zenith Exports ’, but I don’t even have to look too far to know it’s a dummy corporation. The records say they paid in cash”

 

 Magnus continued to pace

 

 “For whatever reason, he is after me; he is fixated on me…I don’t know why, I don’t really care. What I do know is he bought the property from a case I worked months ago, and I’d be willing to bet that he knows I’d find a trail back to it…I realize it’s a trap, but it is probably where he is keeping the hostages, including Raphael, Simon and Jace.

 

He may know that I realize he is the one behind all this, but I don’t think he realizes I know quite this much. If he’s investigated me enough he will think I’ll go in on my own…Especially since the only back up he knows I have are his current hostages.

 

He knows there are four of us on the case, but he doesn’t know who the fourth is…”

 

 He trailed off, raising his eyebrow at Ezekiel

 

 Ezekiel groaned

 

 “Oh, man…I take it back; I wish I was working with Warlock Magnus… I think he’s saner” he muttered

 

#  _ 30 minutes later  _

 

 “Hey guys, sorry it took so long, there was a bit of a lin-” Jake stopped, glancing around the empty office…Before zeroing in on a note taped to the computer screen.

 

**_We found where he has them… He has Raphael and Simon too. I am getting them back.._ **

****

**_Call Alexander, tell him it’s at the warehouse where we found Simon. If we hurry I think we can get the jump on him._ **

****

**_Be careful, He’s more powerful than we thought._ **

 

 Jake shook his head

 

“Oh, hell…”

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

_Okay, Magnus has to be alright…_ _He has to be…_

 

He’d only left him not even two hours ago, how much trouble could he get in in that amount of time?

_Hell, now he’s the delusional one…_

****

**_It’s Magnus_ **

 

There is no limit to the amount of trouble.

 

Alec screeched to a stop in front of Magnus’s agency, bounding up to the door, pushing it open

 

“What the hell are you doing, where is Magnus?” He demanded, drawing his weapon

 

Jake froze, dropping the papers he was rifling through

 

“Uh…this isn’t what it looks like.” he said unconvincingly

 

“It damn sure better not be. Cause what it looks like is Magnus is missing and a suspicious person, who has been lying to us for two days is ransacking his office. So please, tell me exactly what it is…The truth.”

 

Jake groaned

 

“Damnit I knew I shouldn’t of left them alone…” he muttered

 

“Who?”

 

Jake rolled his eyes

 

“Oh, Magnus and Ezekiel…They were looking into trying to find footage of your brother leaving with Lidan,

 

Ezekiel was downloading a program from home and it was taking a while and none of us had had anything to eat since this morning, so I just ran down the road for a bit…It took longer than I thought, but I wasn’t even gone an hour…

 

I came back and I found this note” he finished, nodding to the paper on the table

 

“Ezekiel had your number, I didn’t, so I was trying to find a way to call you or find out where the hell that warehouse i.s”

 

Alec moved forward cautiously, quickly reading over the letter before looking back at Jake, putting away his weapon.

 

“Do you know where he means?”

 

Alec nodded

 

 “Yeah, I know…come on.” 

 

They rushed to Alec’s car, hurrying in.

 

Jake quickly hit the call button for Cassie

 

“Hey so do yo-”

 

“Cas, no time…Ezekiel and Magnus took off after Lidan by themselves. They said he’s a lot more powerful than we thought, we need to move fast, where’s umm… our new partner?” He asked glancing over at Alec

 

He couldn’t even begin to explain the two Magnus’s thing to him right now; he’d be liable to wreak the car.

 

Thankfully Cassie was quick on it

 

“He left a few minutes ago, said he may just have to find a way to join in the fun himself…I don’t actually know what he meant by that and I was kinda afraid to ask. It’s just me and Jenkins here now, Is there anything we can do?”

 

He thought, then nodded

 

“Yeah, we think we know the right location, but I want to be sure…You know how the thing Lidan stole has a tracker, is there any way you can maybe try to pinpoint exactly where it is?”

 

She thought, shaking her head slightly

 

“I-I don’t know I can try, but that’s a bit more in Zeke’s skill set, I’ll see what I can find, and send you anything I get.”

 

He nodded, gratefully

 

“Thanks Cass.”

 

“Don’t thank me, just get them back safely.”

 

Jake gave a slight smile

 

“Come on, It’s Zeke, you know he’s already working something. If anyone can figure this out it’d be him.”

 

She nodded once more, and then the screen went black

 

He glanced over at Alec

 

 “Hey, sorry, I-I really shouldn’t of left them alone…I thought it’d just be a half hour, figured even a trouble magnet like Ezekiel could stay out of danger for that long.”

 

 Alec shook his head

 

“Yeah, well, you didn’t factor in Magnus. I swear, he has an innate knack for getting into the craziest, most dangerous situations possible, hell, ones that don’t even _seem_ _possible_.”

 

“Ezekiel’s worse.”

 

“Uh uh, I doubt it; that man is going to give me a heart attack before I’m 35, I just know it.”

 

“How old are you now?”

 

 “34.”

 

Jake gave a short laugh, 

 

“Yeah, I get that. One time Ezekiel managed to stumble onto the main suspect on a case we were working on and distracted him with a storybook.”

 

Alec raised his eyebrow

 

“Yeah, has he ever broken into a bank during a hostage situation armed with only an eyeliner and lipgloss?”

 

Jake gave him a somewhat shocked look

 

“What!? No, who would do that?!”

 

“Magnus”

 

Jake shook his head slightly

 

 “Okay, you win; Magnus is way more trouble than Ezekiel.”

 

“Somehow it doesn’t feel like I ‘won’ there.” he muttered

 

Jake chuckled

 

Man, Ezekiel may be a bit of a handful, but at least he wasn’t ‘take on a violent criminal with nothing more than a lot of attitude and a few cosmetics,’ over the top.

 

 No wonder Magnus was so ridiculously eye-catching.

 

_You needed that much pretty to cover the lunacy_

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**__ **

They arrived at the warehouse just as the first stars appear. Making their way closer, using the overgrown brush and couple of scraggly trees for cover. As they near the building Magnus stills, catching a hint of movement. He catches Ezekiel's arm, pulling him to a stop and quickly ducking behind the nearest tree.

 

They watch Lidan emerge from the door, cautiously glancing around, before pulling the door shut, locking it, then heading over to his car parked near the entrance. They wait till the car pulls out and they could no longer see it before beginning there trek again.

 

"This is insane" Ezekiel muttered, shaking his head 

 

Magnus quirked his eyebrow

 

"Says the universe hopping, magic hunting librarian, to the fake psychic, about the megalomaniac warlock?"

 

He shrugged, nodding slightly, 

 

"Fair enough."

 

They worked their way around the building, checking for signs of the hostages. Peering through one window Magnus spotted them.

 

There were nine altogether, they were all laid out, looking like they were asleep, at least he really hoped they were just asleep. He could see a few well enough to see they were breathing at least . They made their way back around to the door.

 

Magnus began to get out his lock picks but Ezekiel waved him off with a bit of a wink. He moved ahead of him, retrieving his pic, slipping it in and popping the lock all seemingly in one movement. Magnus rolled his eyes slightly, but gave his an appreciative nod.

 

Creeping through the warehouse Magnus couldn't shake the feeling something was off...He felt the prickly sensation of eyes on him. Cautiously he looked around, scanning the room. It looked much the same as it had during the bank case...

 

_Wait..._

 

It was exactly the same...That wasn't right. The warehouse had been cleared out. He knew it was. He looked around again, spotting the crates from the base...

 

They were open just as they had been that night,

 

Same place

 

Same position 

 

The contents strewn about exactly like they had been...

 

Magnus got a sinking feeling. He caught Ezekiel's arm, stilling him. He looked back in confusion

 

"This isn't right...This room is exactly how it was the last time I was here, These crates were cleared out months ago. We need to get out of here, now...”

 

He nodded, they turned,

 

Suddenly the lights flared; when their eyes adjusted they were standing in a completely empty warehouse. An ominous chuckle broke the silence.

 

"Very good, I was wondering how long it'd take you to figure it out. So nice of you to join me, and to bring the librarian too? Much more efficient, saved me a trip."

 

Magnus and Ezekiel turned,

 

"So glad I could be of help" Magnus sniped sarcastically,

 

 "I was surprised it took you this long. Kind of disappointed, really; thought you were smarter than that."

 

Magnus put on a somewhat bored, unimpressed look

 

"Oh, it didn't, the illusion of you leaving was somewhat convincing, I guess...Though you made it about an inch too tall and it didn't look as plain and forgettable as you, so that kinda tipped me off.

 

And really? The best you could do for the room was just to recreate how it looked the first time I was here? Seriously? That's just pathetic." he finished with a dismissive shrug

 

Lidan sneers

 

“You didn’t figure it out.”

 

Magnus scoffed

 

"Yeah, I did, I was just getting sick of a pathetic obnoxious sorry excuse of a warlock playing super villain screwing with me. You're not worth the time, or the effort.

 

 Out with it, why are you so set on me?

 

What, Magnus from your universe wouldn't give you the time of day so you thought you'd try with another one?

 

As if you're any less forgettable here."

 

His smirk faltered for a moment, before coming back,

 

"Oh, I'll be memorable...After tomorrow I'll be the most powerful being in this universe...No one will be a match for me."

 

Ezekiel gave a bark of a laugh

 

"Dude I think this is the part of the villain speech where you cackle menacingly?"

 

 Lidan glares 

 

"It'll work, you'll see"

 

"Why are you so sure? None of the other artifacts you stole worked. Your plan didn't go how you thought: the charm just confused people, _that's_ really helpful...

 

The other one is supposed to make you more charming and dynamic-

 

_Clearly that failed miserably..._

 

 Magnus is right, you're totally forgettable. Plus, while you were going around stealing artifacts you really should have looked for one for intelligence, as clearly you're an idiot."

 

“I am not; I found a way to become the most powerful being in the universe.” Lidan insisted,

 

Ezekiel outright laughed, shaking his head,

 

"Oh please! You ran away to a universe devoid of magic, and you _still_ couldn't cut it with just your powers! You had to steal artifacts, which no self respecting warlock would ever stoop to.

 

As if that isn’t enough proof of your stupidity, you snuck into the home of one of the most powerful beings in our universe and stole a magical piece of jewelry, and after meeting the guy, I kinda think he's fairly attached to his jewelry."

 

Lidan scoffed

 

 "Ha, Magnus Bane wouldn’t just talk to a librarian."

 

Ezekiel smirked 

 

"He did with me. Actually he likes me, a lot. Said I was smart, handsome and has a nice accent. Not really my type, but it’s flattering, just the same. I don't think it means much though, he seems to hit on everyone..." 

 

He glanced at Lidan, condescendingly then shrugged 

 

"Well, _almost_ everyone."

 

“Face it Lidan, none of your ‘plan’ if you can even call it that, has went how you wanted…The artifacts don’t work, and Neither Magnus wants anything to do with you,

 

You’re just as much of a failure in this universe as in ours.”

 

 Lidan’s smile gets a bit sharper

 

“Oh, they work…Not in the way I thought they would, but they work. And after I have taken enough of them even Magnus Bane will know who I am.  At midnight I can try the feather, It may not be able to do everything it can in our universe, but It should be able to take the abilities of at least two people…”

 

  _Suddenly it clicked_

 

 “You were never going to use it on them…It was us you wanted. So what are you going to do with the others you’ve taken?” Magnus asked

 

 Lidan waived his hand dismissively

 

 "Oh, they're irrelevant. I just needed them to get your attention, I'll leave them here. Eventually your friend the detective will find them... They'll be alive, comatose, but alive. You two are the ones I need...Once I absorb the essences of a psychic and a librarian no one will be a match for me. Or it doesn’t work…and I still have the feather, and I’ll just keep you two around until I’ve absorbed enough power from Artifacts to take your abilities myself…”

 

The last piece clicked, all coming together,

 

“You destroyed the artifacts after they didn’t work. It wasn’t planned, you lost your temper and smashed the charm when it didn’t work how it was supposed to…But something unexpected happened.

 

Breaking it released something, and you found you could absorb it…That’s why you’re more powerful than we thought. The charm and the talisman, you destroyed them and absorbed the power. You were going to do the same with the feather as well, but You want to try it when it’d be most powerful, just in case. Once you have that you intend to use Magnus’s ring to jump back to the other universe, swipe more artifacts to gain more power.”

 

 “Hmm **…** maybe you are smarter than I thought; though you do tend to overestimate your abilities, assuming you’ll be able to get out of it. I think this was one time too many for that…And lucky me, I don’t even have to wait to go to the other universe for another artifact to absorb,” He turned focusing on Ezekiel,

 

“You were nice enough to bring one right to me.”

 

 He raised his hand it shimmers orange, The Janis compass materializes in his palm

 

 "This will do quite nicely… Plus, really can't have people being able to follow me through universes."

 

He slams it down on the cement floor, it shatters. A gold shimmering vapor seems to emanate from the shards. Lidan extends his hand, the vapor trails up, reaching his hand and he seems to glow for just a moment before it dissipates.

 

 He looks back up at them, waiving his hand, binding them.

 

"Now, we best get moving, I have a lot to get ready"

 

He raised his hand and the brilliant orange and red cloud envelopes them 

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know Lidan using the same warehouse is a bit convenient, but maybe he’s not quite as stupid as they believe,
> 
> Or he is and he thinks Magnus won’t figure it out
> 
> Anyways, it gets everyone where we need them, so I’m going with it…
> 
>  
> 
>  Home stretch…
> 
> The next two chapters I have pretty well worked out,
> 
> And I have tomorrow off, so I think I may be able to finish both of them then…
> 
>  
> 
> What do you guys thinks so far?


	11. A World Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec and Jake find the hostages, as well as some **_very_** unexpected help…
> 
> (I freaking LOVE this chapter SO much!!!!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ****Chapter 10 was updated with a 3rd part,
> 
> If you haven't read it you may want to, a few kinda important things happen****
> 
> Sorry it was going to go in this chapter than I realized I already had a ton for this and it fit better as a end of a chapter than the beginning  
> 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 “Okay, I’m gonna take the lead, stay low and keep an eye out.” Alec said quietly as they approached the warehouse, glancing back over at Jake

 

He nodded, moving just a little bit closer. They crept closer as silently as possible, using the overgrown shrub brush and weeds covering the lot to better hide their movements. When they reached the side of the building Alec motioned for Jake to go left, Alec going right. They circled the building, checking for the hostages, as well as any sign of Lidan, keeping an eye out for Magnus and Ezekiel, in the hopes they were actually safe and somewhere nearby investigating.

 

 They methodically made their way around the entire building, finally meeting on the opposite side near the door. Both men froze with trepidation when they realized that it had actually been left open just slightly.

 

“Okay, no sign of Magnus, Ezekiel or Lidan, but the hostages are in the far back room over there…It looks like they’re asleep, I don’t see anyone else” Jake whispered

 

Alec nodded before cautiously reaching for the door handle. They crept in, staying low to the ground, moving along the walls, their footsteps echoed resoundingly throughout the empty warehouse as they made their way to the room. The door to the room was cracked slightly, like the one into the warehouse. It gave Alec a sinking feeling.

 

_It was just too easy…_

 

They slipped into the room, Alec glancing over the hostages. He finds Simon and Raphael first. They were holding each other, Raphael looking like he is trying to shield Simon. Alec kneels down next to them, checking their pulses, breathing a sigh of relief when he finds both strong and steady.

 

They were still unconscious but they were alive, that was something…

 

He finds Jace not too far away, stretched out, looking like he’s just sleeping, relaxed. They spread out checking over all the other hostages, checking for pulses or signs of injury.

 

He breathed a sigh of relief, for a moment thinking they may have caught a break.

 

At least they all seemed to be okay, physically in any case. They find no signs of injury, distress, or the like…They all just seem like they are in a very deep sleep.

 

Only…Alec realizes, none of them are moving;

 

No twitching, no fidgeting, nothing. They are all totally, completely still.

 

Something else occurs to him…They all seem to be breathing exactly the same. In the silence of the room he can hear it faintly, every inhale, every exhale, exactly the same,

 

Exactly in sync…

 

It’s eerie and disconcerting.

 

Something is really not right here.

 

He glances over at Jake; he can see he noticed it too. He leans down cautiously next to Jace, shaking him lightly. He takes hold of Jace’s arm, lifting it slightly, when he lets it go it just falls flat, dead weight.

 

It’s like there’s nothing there…

 

No response

 

No change of expression

 

No change of breath

 

Nothing…

 

It’s not registering

****

He and Jake move together over near Simon and Raphael. They kneel next to them, shaking them slightly.

 

“Hey, guys…come on, wake up” He tries somewhat desperately

 

He looks over at Jake; he looks just as unnerved

 

“What do we d-” Alec begins, but stops suddenly, looking around franticly

 

All of a sudden the entire room is immersed in a cloud of ethereally glimmering blue and brilliant violet shimmering smoke.

 

“Wha-” Jake starts before Alec quickly silences him, covering his mouth and gesturing for Jake to do the same in hopes of keeping whatever it is out…

_He just knew this was too easy,_

 

It had to have been a trap; this was some kind of gas Lidan worked up. Probably the same thing that left the residue in the room back at the convention. They had to find a way out, quickly…

**_How_ ** _, how…what could they do? They couldn’t even breathe!_

 

They had to get themselves, along with nine unconscious people, out.

 

Then just as suddenly as it appeared, the strange shimmering cloud dissipates. Fading into nothing until it’s just the seemingly so much darker room. He looks around, trying to reorient himself, and then his heart absolutely stops.

 

He and Jake are alone in the room, It is totally silent, The hostages are gone; no trace of them ever being there is left. He looks over at Jake in shock. He has a similar expression, but not nearly as panicked and confused as he should, it’s almost resigned.

 

Alec realizes he doesn’t seem nearly as thrown by the disappearing hostages. He doesn’t know what the hell is going on, but he is damn well going to find out,

 

He zeros in on Jake

 

“Jake, what the hell is going on here?”

 

He shakes his head quickly, but Alec catches it, the slight look to the side

 

He’s lying

 

Alec moves a bit closer,

 

“Stop lying to me. You know more about this than you’ve said. You have this entire time…You haven’t been honest with me once, but you are going to start

 

Right. Now.

 

Nine people just disappeared right before our eyes in a cloud of smoke, and you look like you almost expected as much, like it’s just something you deal with on a day to day basis. No more games, No more lies. Tell me what’s going on.”

 

Jake shakes his head, stammering slightly, totally at a loss as to how to begin

 

“A-Alec I ca-”

 

Alec steps forward, threateningly, clenching his fists,

 

“ _The hell you can’t!_ Stop lying, I am done. Where are they?” Alec demands, voice going flat

 

 “Tsk, tsk, _so_ **_dramatic_** , Don’t worry darling; they are all back home, safe in their beds. The spell is no longer permanent, all will be fine.  Come tomorrow morning they’ll wake rested and refreshed, thinking the more fantastical events were nothing more than a rather bizarre, unusually vivid, dream.” Magnus assures smoothly, sounding almost amused

 

Alec and Jake whirl around; relief floods Alec, his heart racing.

 

_Magnus is okay!_

 

He is safe, he is okay and not hurt and right there, leaning casually against the doorframe. He starts towards him, wanting to assure himself that Magnus is alright

 

“ _Alec_ … ** _wait_** ” Jake whispers urgently, sounding far more worried than he has this entire time

 

He glances over at Jake. His expression is like that of someone who just stumbled onto a dangerous predator or a venomous snake. He’s pale, eyes wide, completely frozen, seemingly barely even breathing, He looks verging on terrified.

 

 His eyes are completely fixed on Magnus

 

_What…?_

 

“Jake, what’s wrong?” he asked, looking back at Magnus

 

He starts towards him, but pauses,

 

There’s something off…

 

He looks over Magnus again, but something’s just not right,

 

He’s dressed differently from this morning; He’s wearing a deep, nearly black, midnight blue silk shirt, with a wide assortment of jewelry; his nails are a mirrored black.

 

His hair, which had the brilliant aqua blue streaks just this morning, was now jet black, and styled unlike anything he’d seen on the man before. He’s wearing hardly any makeup, except for a rather heavy, thick line of black around his eyes, which seem just a bit off as well…

 

They’re the same deep brown as they usually were, but they weren’t right. They seemed colder, darker. They _did_ make his heart race, but not in the way they usually did…

 

It wasn’t the slightly breathless, verging on giddy, heart racing he got when he was around Magnus, it felt closer to fear.

 

He stepped back just a bit, Magnus’s words finally registering.

 

“W-What are you talking about?” he asks confused

 

Magnus gives a faint chuckle, tilting his head slightly,

 

The move doesn’t seem natural

 

He takes another step back, not really knowing what is going on, but kind of mimicking Jakes response;

 

The feeling he’s getting is almost like staring down a predator…It baffles him, because it’s Magnus…

 

_But it’s not_

 

_It’s like this isn’t **his** Magnus…_

 

He wonders if he’s been affected by the same thing as the people at the convention…If he has, maybe they can find a way to treat it… _Hopefully_

 

He takes a deep breath and a hesitant step forward. A **_very small_ ,** step forward.

 

‘Magnus’ gives a slight bit of a laugh

 

He has to fight the urge to stumble back several more steps. He takes another deep breath,

 

“Magnus, A-are you okay? You don’t seem like yourself…”

 

‘Magnus’ chuckles, tilting his head slightly

 

It’s just as disconcerting the second time

 

They’re standing about ten feet apart, Magus leaning against the door frame,

 

Blocking the only exit to the room

 

A vague part of his brain unhelpfully supplies

 

“Alexander, darling, you really are absolutely delightful in _every_ universe” he practically purrs

 

And ‘purrs’ seems to be a pretty fitting word

 

“Wha-” Alec begins,

 

Then he stops talking, because he has apparently lost his mind…

 

‘Magnus’ blinks, and from one second to the next his eyes flicker, changing from the familiar, deep brown to bright golden cat eyes that seem to nearly glow in the low light of the room.

 

He smirks, before flicking his wrist, making a vague flourishing movement, Brilliant blue and violet sparks shimmer into existence, illuminating the room, dancing through the air. He gives a slight smile; it seems warmer, but no less dangerous.

 

“I am more than okay, darling, and I _am_ myself… Just not the one you know.”

 

Alec gasped, eyes wide, taking a step back

 

‘Magnus’ huffs somewhat, before waving him off carelessly, sending more sparks into the air,

 

“My Darling Alexander, there is no need to be frightened…I assure you, there is no universe in existence in which I am a threat to you, love.

 

Now come along, there’s no time to explain, but since we have this settled, we really must hurry and save _your_ Magnus.”

 

 ** _That_** registers more than anything else

 

“Magnus is in danger?” he asked alarmed

 

Then rolls his eyes slightly

 

“Oh, _of course_ he is” he mutters

 

‘Magnus’ chuckles slightly

 

“Yes, He _does_ seem to be a bit of a handful, doesn’t he?”

 

Alec shook his head exasperated

 

“You have NO idea.”

 

He shakes his head again slightly, before taking one more deep breath, closing his eyes, everything suddenly becoming clear, all the craziness of the day coming together…

 

The ‘delusional’ scientist who thinks he’s a warlock from another universe

 

The odd stillness of the hostages

 

The way five people had disappeared from the room at the convention

 

A **_terrifying_** other Magnus

 

Jake and Ezekiel’s insistence on lying

 

Jake being unable to explain to him the actual truth…

 

How could he?

 

How do you tell someone that Magic is real and a Warlock from another universe was set on using a siren’s feather to steal people essences?

 

He wondered if this is what it felt like for Magnus when the randomness just suddenly fell together,

 

Or, if this is how it feels when you finally completely lose touch with reality,

 

Either way, he’ll have to ask Magnus when they find him…

 

Right after he yells at him for lying.

 

And again for scaring him within an inch of his life by running off to confront a crazed _freaking **warlock.**_

 

Right before he kisses him senseless

 

Or after that…

 

Almost certainly after…

 

Squaring his shoulders, he gives ‘not Magnus’ a determined, dead calm look

 

“Okay, I don’t know what’s going on…I don’t know about Magic, or warlocks or spells, other universes or whatever else…But you, _obviously,_ do. If Magnus, **_My_** _Magnus_ , is in trouble, you **_will_** help me get him back.” He said authoritatively

 

“Ezekiel too” Jake chimes in, stepping forward next to Alec…

 

‘Not Magnus’ turns, focusing on Jake, He tilts his head slightly, raising an eyebrow, cat eyes flashing dangerously.

 

Jake steps back, but tries to keep a determined look.

 

“Careful, Librarian…you are in no position to demand anything of me.”

 

Alec stepped between them

 

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you and this _‘Librarian_ ’, and I really don’t know you…I’m at a loss with all of this, But one thing I do know is **_My_** Magnus. He would never leave someone in danger just because of some prejudices or grudge or whatever else.

 

I know you’re not actually him, but I can’t believe that any version of him would be that cold, _that_ unfeeling…”

 

‘Not Magnus’ rolled his eyes, giving an exasperated sigh

 

“Really, is there _any_ version of you that isn’t an annoyingly perfect paragon of virtue?”

 

Alec laughed

 

“So, does that mean you will help get Ezekiel back, too?” he asked, giving a slightly imploring look

 

“Ugh…Fine… _I **hate** that look_ , how am I supposed to argue with that?” Magnus grumbled somewhat petulantly

 

Alec and Jake both breathe a sigh of relief…Alec doesn’t know what’s going on, he doesn’t know who ‘not Magnus’ is, or what he can do, but he has a feeling with this guy on their side Lidan doesn’t stand a chance.

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

“Okay, so, explain it one more time” Alec asked somewhat desperately

 

This was just so far out there he didn’t even know how to process it

 

‘Not Magnus’ gave a heavy, exasperated sigh

 

“Darling, it’s not that complicated:

 

Ezekiel and Jake are Librarians, in our universe they guard Magical artifacts and keep them from hurting poor innocent humans…Well, that’s what they _say_ anyways, most of the ones I have had the misfortune to meet have just tried to kill me.

 

Lidan is a poor, sorry, pathetic excuse for a warlock who has stooped to not only jumping to a universe totally devoid of magic, but using these artifacts all in a vain effort to become ‘the most powerful being in the universe’- insert cheesy supervillian laugh here…He stole four artifacts, and has tried to use only three of them, as the feather works best on the eve of the full moon, not the night. That would be tonight. The power would be strongest at around 3am, the witching hour…

 

At that time he will try to use the feather to absorb their abilities. I do not know what It will do here, as none of the other objects, save my ring, have worked the way they are supposed to in this universe.

 

What I do know is this man is either totally delusional, a complete idiot, or suicidal, as he was foolish enough to steal something from me. I have no doubt that regardless of the outcome with the feather he doesn’t intend to let either of them go.”

 

Alec and Jake tensed up at that, but ‘not Magnus’ just waives it off

 

“Now, none of that, We will get **_your_** Magnus, and **_your_** Ezekiel, as well as my ring, back…And then I will take care of the rest” he finished in an almost gleeful tone, with that totally unsettling smirk

 

Alec nodded slightly, fighting off the slight shiver that look caused.

 

_Seriously, he felt like it should come with, like, a flash of lightning or thunder clap or something…_

_Why did he feel like they were joining forces with a supervillian?_

 

He shook his head, glancing around the room, trying to clear his mind a bit.

 

Man, between the magic, the supervillian in training, the far more skilled possible supervillian they were working with, and the multiple universes, Alec was really starting to wish they had Simon with them…

 

His knowledge of scifi and fantasy would probably come in pretty handy right about now. At least they were at home safe. A thought occurred to him…

 

“Hey so, what about-”

 

‘Not Magnus’ gave a rather exasperated groan

 

“ ** _Alexander_** , love, please…I absolutely adore you, but I _cannot_ explain it, yet again.”

 

He blushed, in spite of himself

 

_Okay it wasn’t **his** Magnus, but the words almost sounded like him_

 

“N-no, not, uh, not that…I think I have that, well, not really, but I think I’m giving up on  it making any more sense than it has the last four times…This is as close as I’m gonna get.”

 

‘Not Magnus’ chuckled warmly, giving a bit of an affectionate smile

 

“Then what is it, love?”

 

“Well, it’s just, I was looking around and you made the hostages disappear, kind of like Lidan would have, right?”

 

He shrugged slightly

 

“Eh, something like that, though probably with a fair bit more skill and flare, of course.”

 

Alec rolled his eyes slightly

 

‘Not Magnus’ smirked at that, cat eyes sparking bright with amusement

 

“Yeah, okay…I get it, you’re far more powerful, But if you did it about the same way he did, why isn’t there anything left?”

 

He tilted his head, in confusion

 

It seemed less disconcerting, maybe he was adjusting to the oddly inhuman movement

 

Or maybe whatever sense of self preservation he had has already jumped ship

 

Whatever, it didn’t make him want to run away

 

He was counting it as a win

 

“What do you mean, darling?”

 

“Well, in the room where he took Simon and Raphael as well as a couple other guys, there was a strange orange powdery kind of residue and a weird, electrical type smell”

 

“Magic doesn’t leave traces, not unless you…

 

Oh.

 

Oh, that stupid, incompetent, _absolute_ **_imbecile_**. He is even more of a fool than I would have ever have guessed…If we weren’t in such a time crunch I’d have half a mind to just sit back and let him suffer with the fate he has created for himself.” He finished shaking his head

 

“Uhh, what?” Jake asked, totally lost

 

He’d been trying to stay out of the warlock’s attention after the last time, just to be safe, but he couldn’t quite ignore that.

 

He fixed his cat’s eyes on Jake; though the look wasn’t the terrifying one he’d penned him with before, this was a look of hopeless resignation in the face of total idiocy…

 

He knew that look…

 

Jenkins had it a lot when he came in part way through some of their plans.

 

“He found a way to use the artifacts, alright…And he’ll get the power boost he so desperately wants, but I don’t think he’s counting on the downside. There is a reason Warlocks aren’t to use artifacts, and it’s not just because it’s a sign of weakness.

 

See, when one of us uses an artifact for its _intended_ purposes, everything goes as it should, sometimes it works better, giving the boost of power we can give it.

 

However over the millennia some have found that if they destroy an artifact, they can absorb its power. They will not gain the powers of the _artifact_ , but it kind of supercharges their own powers,

 

It’s rather like if a human takes steroids.

 

It boosts their abilities to their maximum power level. Absorbing more doesn’t raise the power level any, The only way to continue it is to absorb one just as the effects of the last began to subside…And they would have to continue it pretty much until they die,

 

Which, as we are _immortal_ , and artifacts are not exactly overly commonplace, doesn’t really work so well. When they do wear off, _which they **always** do_ , because no one can continue that pace for an eternity, It’s like the most unbearable hangover ever experienced by man, only so much worse.

 

Every cell in their body feels like it is on fire, exploding. They cannot move without it magnifying one hundred fold and they will have an unceasing, blaring sound in their head that is described as a rusty chain saw cutting through a car. The symptoms last for months at full strength, and never really go away until they absorb another; many are driven mad by it.”

 

Alec and Jake stared at him in shock, not really sure how to process that,

 

“O-okay, so, in a week or less he’ll be basically in a hell of his own making…If we had a week to wait, fine, at this point the guy deserves it, but what I’m getting from that is right this second he has the highest level of power possible.

 

Don’t take this the wrong way but,

 

Are you absolutely sure that you can handle him?” Alec asked nervously

 

Magnus froze, staring at him for a second, before nearly dissolving in laughter

 

“ _Darling_ , of course I can… I said he is at the most powerful level _HE_ can achieve:

 

Though with the lack of Magic in this universe, he will still be less powerful than he would be back home…In any case,

 

I actually looked into him after your Magnus brought him to my attention. There is a very good reason he needed to resort to using artifacts and jumping universes;

 

He is absolutely _pathetic_.

 

He’s barely been around for a century, which is nothing so far as we’re concerned. In our world his powers barely even register. He’s the warlock equivalent of a magician who does kids parties, And even _that’s_ being generous…”

 

Alec chuckled, raising his eyebrow

 

“So, you’re saying you _can_ take him?”

 

He gave that flashing eyed smirk once again, tilting his head just slightly

 

It seemed less terrifying…Almost thrilling

 

“Blindfolded, one hand tied behind my back, and black out drunk.”

 

Alec flat out laughed at that, shaking his head

 

“Yeah, uh…how about we try it the normal way, just in case?”

 

He huffed playfully, rolling his eyes

 

“Oh, but I so wanted it to be at least a _bit_ of a challenge.” he grumbled playfully

 

“Okay, well, maybe think of it as a challenge in restraint, Seeing if you can do this without making a big dramatic show of it.”

 

‘Not Magnus’ gave a surprised, sharp laugh, raising his eyebrow

 

“And what makes you think I’m overdramatic?”

 

Alec pretended to think for a moment

 

“Hmm…I don’t know, maybe the fact that half the things you say or do kinda makes it feel like _you’re_ the supervillian we should be after?”

 

He gets a slightly teasing, predatory smirk, eyes flickering, leaning just a bit closer

 

“ _Detective_ , are you saying you are going to try to arrest me? Because if so…I might actually let you.”

 

Alec blushed brightly, laughing, shaking his head

 

“You are incorrigible,” he muttered

 

‘Not Magnus’ grinned

 

“Aww, thank you gorgeous, you’re incredible, too”

 

Alec rolled his eyes, still blushing

_Okay, so apparently **any** Magnus has the ability to make him blush…_

 

He shook his head slightly, before a thought occurred to him

 

“So, you said in this universe he’s not as powerful as he would be in yours, right?” Alec asked glancing over at Mag- no, ‘NOT Magnus’

 

He nodded

 

“Yes, Even though much of our magic is inherent a greater amount is actually tied to the universe…

 

Regardless of your magic level the universe you are in affects your strength and abilities. The more Magic inherent in a universe, the more powerful you are. There is absolutely no real magic in this universe; therefore it is where his powers would be weakest…”

 

Alec glanced over, curiously

 

“So, if that’s the case, why isn’t it affecting you? Why aren’t your powers weakened?”

 

‘Not Magnus’ chuckled leaning closer, brushing against him,

 

“Sweetheart, this _IS_ me weakened.” he said winking

 

Alec’s eyes widened, somewhere between amazed and alarmed

 

Jake gulped slightly and moved a bit further behind Alec. He seemed okay dealing with Warlock Magnus…

 

_Also, Warlock Magnus had yet to look as if he was contemplating exactly how many ways he could end Alec, unlike **him** …So there was that_

 

He turned to them, cat eyes flashing dangerously, with that sharp, terrifying grin

 

_Yup, just gonna move a **little** bit further behind Alec._

 

“Aright boys, here’s how we are going to do this: The ring is mine; I can track it from here. I will get us in; you two go find your guys, these…” He paused making a dramatic flourish with his hand, causing two brilliant violet stones to appear in his hand, before handing one to each of them

 

“Will break any spell he has on them. Just hold one over each of their heads and break it. When it breaks there will be a slight flash and a puff of violet smoke, then any spell he has on them will be broken, got it?”

 

They both nodded

 

“So, while we’re doing that what will you be doing?”

 

He smiled

 

This time Alec almost swears he heard a faint rumbling of thunder

 

“I am going to find Lidan…It seems the man has been _oh so set_ on meeting me, I’d just hate to disappoint him.”

 

Alec shook his head, fighting off a slight, reckless grin in spite of the situation

 

“Seriously, are you sure you are not a supervillian?”

 

He chuckled giving a wide eyed look, reminding Alec far too much of **_his_** Magnus,

 

“Of course not darling…So long as people stay on my good side” he finished with that playfully dangerous grin

 

Alec nodded, getting a determined look

 

“Well, I think in general I’d feel bad for anyone who got on your bad side, but this Lidan has **_my_** Magnus, and Ezekiel…He kidnapped my brother and two of my closest friends along with six other innocent people…I think he deserves whatever he gets.”

 

‘Not Magnus’ got a rather terrifying grin

 

“Oh, sweetheart I am so very glad to hear you say that.” he purred

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Other-Other-Other-Other-Other

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

##  _ (Jake) _

They appeared just inside a rather non-descript warehouse type building. **_Magnus_** closed his eyes waving his hand, a shimmer of violet blue appearing, His eyes popped back open, glimmering in the low light, He tilted his head slightly.

 

“Magnus and Ezekiel are down that hallway… they are separated, Ezekiel is further down at the end of the hall, Magnus is in the room just off the hall. Lidan is at the other end; he has yet to realize we are here. Go get them...I’m going to go let him know we’re here.”

 

Jake and Alec nodded, turning to rush down the hallway, Jake raced down to the far end reaching the door.

 

The room seemed to be some kind of storage area; his eyes scanned the room somewhat franticly, finally landing on Ezekiel.

 

He was standing in one corner, his eyes closed, He looked frozen, much like the hostages had at the warehouse. Jake hurried over, holding the stone over Ezekiel’s head, breaking it. There was a brilliant purple flash and a wisp of smoke.

 

Ezekiel blinked, taking a deep, gasping breath, before his eyes focused on Jake; he grabbed Jakes shoulders frantically, shaking his head,

 

“Jake! Lida-” he started but was cut off when Jake pulled him into a frantic kiss

 

Ezekiel seemed to freeze

 

_Oh, crap! What was he doing!?_

 

Jake pulled away nervously, Ezekiel gave him a slightly mischievous smirk, raising his eyebrow.

 

“Oh, Uhh…s-sorry I don-”

 

Ezekiel chuckled, shaking his head

 

“Uh uh, don’t even try it, cowboy” He cut him off before reaching up, grabbing Jakes shirt collar, and pulling him down into a much deeper, _far_ _more thorough_ , kiss.

 

Jake gave a bit of an elated laugh, before winding his arms around Ezekiel, tugging him closer.

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

Alec burst into the room with so much force the door nearly came off the hinges. He scanned the room, quickly spotting Magnus. He swiftly retrieved the stone as he strode across the room, stopping just in front of Magnus, checking anxiously to be sure that Magnus was okay, that he wasn’t hurt.

 

He looked peaceful, soft, relaxed,

 

Probably how he would if he was sleeping, though it was rather unsettling with him standing. He reached up, checking for his pulse, just to be sure. He found it without trouble, strong and steady…Alec breathed a sigh of relief, At last feeling that it would actually be alright.

 

His Magnus was here _, right here_

 

He really was safe.

 

Alec held the stone above his head, crushing it. There was a quick, bright flash and a puff of iridescent smoke.

 

Magnus gasped slightly, his familiar, deep, _impossibly_ warm brown eyes flutter open,

 

Alec feels his heart begin to race

 

The good way this time…

 

Alec grabbed him, pulling Magnus close, he raised one hand to his cheek, before moving it over slightly, gently pushing a few strands of soft, brilliant aqua hair, away from his face,

 

Magnus leans into the touch, humming softly

 

Alec traces along his jaw, tilting his head up just slightly, leaning down, and kissing him slowly…

 

Magnus gasps softly, unfreezing. He surges forward, wrapping his arms around Alec, pulling him close, deepening the kiss. Alec groans, eagerly tightening his hold. He’s probably holding on too tight, but he just can’t help it…

 

Magnus is here

 

 **His** Magnus

 

He is safe, and he is alive and _right **here**_ ,

 

In his arms…

 

He never wants to let go

 

Magnus makes that soft, happy, humming sound again, and Alec feels his heart beat speed up further.

 

They startle when Jake and Ezekiel rush into the room, skidding to a stop when they see Alec and Magnus

 

“Oh, uh…sorry, don’t mean to interrupt.” Jake says sheepishly

 

Ezekiel grins elated that the other two are alright… Magnus gives Ezekiel a look of total relief.

 

“Oh you guys are-” Ezekiel begins but is cut off suddenly

 

A loud booming sounds from outside the room,

 

Then _inside_ the room, As Lidan is sent flying through the door and into the far wall like a rag doll.

 

The four in the room move closer together, away from him. Suddenly Lidan surges up, raising his hands, brilliant red and orange sparks erupt, surrounding him, his head turns slightly, spotting the other men. He has a totally deranged look.

 

He turns to them, raising his hands, the orange and red swirl together, gathering into a huge undulating writhing ball, looking like molten magma. There is nowhere they can go. Lidan flings his hands out towards them, the molten mass surging forward.

 

Suddenly it’s blocked by a bright, powerful, brilliant blue arc, knocking the blow back at Lidan, before it dissipates into nothingness.

 

 ** _Magnus_** slinks into the room, that dangerous smirk firmly in place, cat eyes flashing, blue and violet sparks shimmering, crackling like lightening around his hands, and up his arms. The very air around him seems to ripple with the energy.

 

“Tsk, tsk, now that wasn’t very nice…If you cannot play nice, then you cannot play at all.” he says, voice smooth, nearly melodic

 

Lidan turns to him trying to raise his hand, the orange sparks starting to gather.

 

 ** _Magnus_** gave a derisive bark of a laugh,

 

“Oh, please! What do you think you are **_possibly_** going to do against me? 

 

Sweetie, it’s not even a matter of me being out of your league, we are not even playing the same _game_ …”

 

He raises his hand, a luminous, shimmering blue violet cloud surged out from his hand, flying towards Lidan. The cloud becomes a brilliant, iridescent rolling, churning smoke, eclipsing the orange, completely encircling Lidan.

 

When it clears Lidan is lying motionless on the ground.

 

The others stare in shock before turning their gaze as one to **_Magnus._**

 

He glances over at them, taking in their stunned expressions. He shrugs, smirking, cat eyes glimmering, the shimmer of power around him just beginning to fade. He raises an eyebrow, leaning casually against the door frame.

 

“What?”

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
> 
>  
> 
> ****  
> ______________End Of Chapter Notes___________  
>   
> 
> *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
> 
>  
> 
> ****  
> _Oh my gosh, I love this SO much!!!_  
>   
> 
> This was so much fun for me, you all don’t even know
> 
>  
> 
> I love my slightly evil seeming Magnus, he is just SO much fun
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _(I tried to keep them easy enough to tell apart)_
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Kay one chapter left,
> 
> I’ve had my fun, time to fix everything…
> 
> I should have the next chapter up sometime late tomorrow night.
> 
>  
> 
> What do you guys think so far?
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  


	12. A World Sheltered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Okay, I’ve had my fun, time to reel in the crazy…_
> 
> _***I LOVE this chapter too***_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh it's finished and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE it!!!
> 
> This is, by far, my favorite thing I have ever written (And I know I think that about most everything I just finished, but I really think this one is gonna stay my favorite)
> 
> I hope you all like it as much as I do
> 
> (Also in the end notes there's a bit of a kind of surprise, which I am really excited about- which is obvious, as I couldn't keep it under 5000 characters- but it wouldn't all fit there, so I put a link to the rest on my journal on Deviant Art)

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**__ **

They all just stand there frozen, not really sure how to precede

 

_What’s the standard response when a warlock with delusions of grandeur whose one step away from being a supervillian gets completely owned by another warlock?_

 

“Uhh…so, is he…?” Alec finally asked,

 

 ** _Magnus_** shook his head, waiving him off

 

 “No, he will be fine…In about a day or so, for the most part anyways. Though it will be a bit of an adjustment.”

 

“An adjustment? What exactly did you do to him?” Magnus, _His_ Magnus, asked, sounding almost concerned

 

 Alec glanced over at him, that familiar, breathless, near giddy feeling returning. Lidan was terrible, no question; he was deranged, literally one step _(and, okay, a_ _ **huge**_ _dose of intelligence)_ away from being a supernaturally powered bond villain, and still his Magnus shows compassion and concern,

 

_Yeah, his Magnus was, by far, the best Magnus…_

 

 ‘Not Magnus’ shrugged

 

 “What he did was beyond reckless. In his pathetic grab for power he attacked innocent humans, ones that have absolutely no frame of reference or coping mechanisms so far as Magic is concerned.

 

While humans from our world are generally in the dark so far as Magic and the like is concerned, they are more capable of processing or rationalizing these events; it’s a defense mechanism from living in that world. He had no qualms about completely erasing the entire identities of those at the convention, nor at using an artifact on them that would take their very lives.

 

His actions threatened not only this universe, but quite possibly multiple universes, should the introduction of Magic cause a collapse…”

 

 He paused, tilting his head, focusing back on Lidan, cat eyes flashing dangerously

 

 “Plus, he snuck into my home and stole my ring, he is lucky I am being _this_ lenient…” he added, the tone sending a chill down the spines of all of them, causing them to take a cautious, nearly simultaneous step back.

 

 Ezekiel leaned forward, just slightly,

 

 “Uhh…y-you know I was totally going to give the ring back to you, right? I was just holding it for safe keeping” Ezekiel offered, hurriedly retrieving it from his pocket, holding it out.

 

 Jake groaned, shaking his head

 

  ** _Magnus_** chuckled, golden eyes flickering in amusement

 

 “I know that sweetheart…You are reckless and impulsive, not stupid.”

 

  He reached over, plucking it from Ezekiel’s hand, slipping it into his pocket, before turning from the younger librarian.

 

 Ezekiel exhales loudly

 

 Jake gave him an exasperated look, shaking his head again

 

 Ezekiel shrugged

 

 “So what did you do to Lidan?” Alec asked

 

  ** _Magnus_** turned, focusing on him

 

 “What he did is unforgivable and _absolutely_ cannot happen again. I bound his powers, turning him human, and erased all memories of actual magic or the other universe from his mind. As far as he will know, he is nothing more than a scientist who went off the deep end, accidently creating the ‘toxins’ he used to influence and knock out the patrons…

 

In a turn of events he came into contact with the ‘toxin’ himself, causing him to believe he was a universe hopping warlock. When he awakens he will realize how insane that was. He will not remember any of the actual magic, but he _will_ remember all of his actions, all of his crimes, All the lives he was so very willing to take.

 

 He will be able to be arrested and tried for his crimes. All the evidence of his actions will be here; the case should go flawlessly- There will be no question to his actions, or his culpability, though his sanity may be a factor…”

 

 Alec tilted head curiously,

 

“Wait, so, you are leaving him here?”

 

 He nodded

 

“Yes, after everything he’s done it would be best if there is absolutely no chance of him coming back into contact with magic. In any case, he will never again be a threat to you, or anyone else for that matter. Should he ever attempt something like this, or any other violent crime, the symptoms of the Artifact poisoning will hit him, though only half strength, as the full effects would almost certainly be fatal for a human.

 

They will just last a day or so, but that should be enough to stifle whatever misdeeds he was contemplating”

 

 He finished with a casual shrug

 

 “Artifact poisoning?” Magnus asked confused

 

“What happens when a warlock absorbs the power of an artifact…Blinding, searing pain, near maddening, blaring sound in their minds, like the worse hangover ever magnified one-hundred fold.”

 

 “Uhh…that’s lenient?” Ezekiel asked, unable to stop himself

 

  ** _Magnus_** smirked, tilting his head, cat eyes flashing,

 

“He is alive and, so long as he doesn’t cause any other problems, relatively unharmed. Yes, for me that is extremely lenient.”

 

 He nodded frantically, scooting closer to Jake, who slips his arm around his waist, pulling him close

 

  ** _Magnus_** smiled, almost playfully

 

“Oh good, you two actually did manage to figure it out…”

 

 Magnus gave a surprised laugh, eyes widening slightly, looking between the other two men,

 

“About time…I was wondering how I’d get you two together.”

 

 Alec chuckled, looking over at him, shaking his head affectionately,

 

 “What?” Magnus asked, curious

 

 Alec laughed again, giving Magnus a soft smile,

 

 “Nothing, it’s just… In the last two days you have found out Magic is real,  Helped two magic hunting ‘librarians’ from another universe track down a deranged warlock on a quest to become a supervillian,

 

 Met a version of you from their universe, who I am still partially convinced, may be an _actual_ supervillian,

 

And yet you were focused on how to help two people get together because you saw that there was something between them…”

 

Magnus shrugged, blushing just a bit

 

 “Well, it was important.”

 

 Alec chuckled again, at a loss as to anything to say to that,

 

  _He was just so unbelievably happy and thankful that_ ** _this_** _is the Magnus he has in his life_

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**__ **

Magnus took a deep breath, glancing back at Alexander. He had this wonderful, soft, warm smile, Magnus had to fight down yet another sigh.

_That look was just devastating,_

 

He shook his head, slightly. Reluctantly turning away from Alexander, looking back at the others. He had to focus, In order to do that he had to draw his attention away from Alexander.

 

“Umm…So, this really is a bit of a mess, what do we do now?”

 

Ezekiel nodded suddenly sobering

 

“Hey, yeah…how are we going to get back home?” He said alarmed

 

Jake looked at him confused

 

“What do you mean?”

 

He shook his head somewhat frantically

 

“Y-yeah I didn’t know how to tell you….Earlier, when Lidan found us…he took the Janis compass, he broke it…Absorbed the power or whatever you want to call it. I am SO sorry, W-we don’t have a way home…” he said, looking down slightly

 

Jake looked rather bewildered before moving over near him, cautiously putting his arm around the younger man

 

“Hey, it wasn’t your fault…There’s no way you coulda known. We’ll figure something out.” He said reassuringly

 

Ezekiel nodded, moving closer

 

 ** _Magnus_** chuckles, slightly

 

“Oh, come now, no need to look so dejected…My usual way of dealing with you _oh so pesky_ Librarians is simply to erase their memories of magic and toss them into another universe…That could work, I wouldn’t even have to do the second part…

 

Or

 

As you _technically_ were helping me, well, an alternate universes version of me, close enough, I suppose I could give you a lift back to our universe, whichever.” He finished with that dangerously playful grin

 

“Uh…the second one” Ezekiel said, eyes wide

 

Jake nodded quickly

 

Alec chuckled giving the Warlock a grateful, relieved smile. He grins, sending Alec a playful, flirty wink.

 

Magnus raises his eyebrow, slipping his arm around Alec… glaring slightly…at himself…

_That is **such** a weird thought…_

 

 ** _Magnus_** raises his eyebrow chuckling, shaking his head a bit, He turns away from them. Exhaling loudly, he flicks his wrist, his power shimmering and flashing in electric blue and violet sparks. The shimmering sparks intensify gaining strength.

Magnus tightens his hold on Alec, gasping slightly…torn between still slightly jealous, fascinated and _completely_ amazed. Alec slips his arm securely around Magnus’s waist, Watching the absolute wonder and astonishment playing across his face …

 

It’s absolutely breathtaking 

 

 ** _Magnus_** makes a few graceful movements with his hands, sending brilliant blue and violet sparks dancing in the air. The sparks swirl and churn flashing brighter, nearly crackling.

 

A luminous, glittering violet portal opens.

 

“I-I bu- wha-what? _You can open_ **_portals?_** B-but how? You’re not even wearing the ring …” Jake stammered, gesturing vaguely towards his hand

 

 ** _Magnus_** chuckles slightly, shaking his head

 

“ _Hmm_ …Oh, no dear, I can actually create them on my own. The ring was a gift from a lover a few centuries back. It was a sweet thought, though a bit unnecessary.

 

 Janus was **_so_** proud of creating it; he worked so hard, ensuring that I would be able to travel all the places he could…I didn’t have the heart to tell him I already could.” he shrugged casually

 

“ ** _Janus?_** Like, as in, the _‘Janus Compass’_?” Ezekiel stammered

 

“Got it in one…” **_Magnus_** said pointing at Ezekiel, with a playfully cheeky wink

 

“Uh…Wasn’t he…?” Ezekiel asked trailing off, astonished

 

“Yup”

 

“And you…?”

 

“Yup”

 

“Who?” Alec asked

 

“A **FEW** centuries?!” Magnus exclaimed

 

 ** _Magnus_** Chuckles, before casually waiving Ezekiel and Jake forward, they say goodbye to Alec and Magus then quickly jump through the portal before the warlock can change his mind.

 

 He chuckles again, shaking his head a bit in amusement before turning back to Magnus and Alec, giving that rather playful smirk.

 

“Never mind all that dears; it truly was quite something meeting you, but I really do need to get back… ** _My_** Alexander will be home from his precinct soon

 

I cannot wait to tell him about this…”

 

“ _Y-Your_ …” Magnus stammered, glancing over at Alec

 

( **His** Alexander)

 

 ** _Magnus_** gave a surprisingly warm smile, glancing between the two of them, before nodding

“Yes, it seems some things truly are universal…” he says with a wink before jumping through the portal himself

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Other-Other-Other-Other-Other

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

##  _ (Ezekiel) _

 

Ezekiel and Jake tumble out of the portal, landing in a rather clumsy tangled heap

 

“Oof!” Jake groaned, trying to catch his breath after getting the wind knocked out of him…He didn’t know if it was from the impact with the floor, or from the impact of Ezekiel landing on him in their fall, or both.

 

“Oww!” He grumbled, shaking his head slightly.

 

Ezekiel shook his head, trying to get his own bearings 

 

“Well, at least the trip back was easier than the trip there.” He said somewhat cheerfully,

 

“Yeah, that’s cause you landed on me.” Jake grumbled

 

Ezekiel glanced down, before his eyes met Jakes, giving a slightly mischievous grin

 

“Hey” he said almost shyly

 

“Hey” Jake said, unable to stop a slight smile

 

 Ezekiel leaned closer, bringing his hand up, brushing against Jake’s cheek

 

_All the random craziness aside, he couldn’t help thinking it might all have been worth it_

 

“Ahem” a rather amused voice sounded from off to the side

 

They both looked up

 

“Oh, uhh…hey guys… we made it back” Ezekiel says sheepishly glancing from Cassandra to Jenkins

 

“Yeah, I can see that” She smirked, raising her eyebrow

 

“So how did y-” Jenkins begins but stops when the portal shimmers again signaling another person coming through

 

Ezekiel and Jake scramble up, trying to not look awkward

 

“Who’s?” Jenkins asks stepping back

 

Magnus emerged, landing gracefully, just outside the portal, glancing around at the others in the room, giving an almost friendly grin

 

“ _Magnus_?! What, how did you-?” Cassie asked somewhat shocked

 

“One moment darling” he says holding a finger up before turning to the portal

 

He makes a flourishing motion with both hands, brilliant violet blue shimmering sparks flickering to life, crackling like lightening, they shimmer from his hands all the way up his arms. They’re radiant, nearly blinding, even from a few feet away they could feel the power absolutely radiating from him.

 

He sighs slightly, glancing back at them, he has that terrifying smirk, his brilliant golden cat eyes truly glowing, there is no writing it off as a trick of the light this time.

 

“Oh, it is so good to be home…I have not been that weak in _centuries._ ”

 

Jake kind of wished they had Alec here to distract the warlock… _And he thought the guy was terrifying **before.**_

 

He turned back to the portal making a few more graceful gestures, the power shimmering out, streaming forward.

 

The iridescent portal begins to rotate faster and faster, spiraling and condensing in on itself. It gets brighter, dwindling in size till it resembled a small incandescent marble spinning, floating in the air. Magnus reached forward, lightly plucking it out of the air, balancing it between two fingers.

 

He turns back to the others.

 

“W-what did you do? What is that?” Ezekiel asked totally shocked

 

Magnus grins, holding the odd stone/gem/portal/ _whatever the hell it was_ , up

 

“That universe is totally devoid of Magic. You were correct Jenkins; the introduction of magic genuinely could prove detrimental to it. It needs to be protected, for everyone concerned. This-” he says, holding it up

 

“Is now the only portal to that universe, I sealed it permanently, even I cannot reopen it. They will be safe, and under no threat from any forces beyond their universe.” He shrugged,

 

 Like sealing off an entire universe, singlehandedly shielding it from any and all outside threats was nothing

 

 “Uhh…t-that’s, that’s good, Good thinking” Ezekiel stammered, eyes wide

 

He just gave a casual wave

 

“Eh, it really is best for everyone concerned, they are safe, and there is less of a chance of a chain reaction causing the collapse of multiple universes, Everyone wins.”

 

“How did you get to that universe, anyways? Do you have another artifact for that?” Cassie asked somewhat amazed

 

_How many universe hopping artifacts were there? Did Magnus collect them, like a hobby?_

 

He grinned, giving her a playful wink

 

“I did tell you darling, I would find a way to get in on the fun.”

 

“Oh, yeah, apparently, he doesn’t need an artifact…He can hop universes himself” Jake supplied shaking his head, still shocked

 

 _“You can?!”_ she gasped

 

Magnus nodded, shrugging casually

 

 Once again like it’s nothing

 

“Yeah, he didn’t need the ring after all, he really just wanted the ring back for sentimental reasons, as it was a gift, made especially for him, by Janis, you know, as in, _the Greek god of transition and portals…_ I guess they actually had a ‘thing’ a few centuries ago” Ezekiel interjected gesturing vaguely

 

Cassie and Jenkins just kind of stared

 

“ _Oookay_ , none of my business, I assume you did manage to find the artifacts, and apprehend Lidan? I trust you didn’t just trap a random sociopathic warlock in a universe devoid of magic…Where is the Janis compass?” Jenkins asked

 

“Umm…Yeah, about that…” Ezekiel started, sheepishly

 

Magnus stepped forward

 

“I am afraid there was a bit of a dust up, the Janis Compass, along with the other two artifacts, were destroyed. Rather unfortunate, I realize, No one’s fault, though, save for the aforementioned universe hopping, sociopathic warlock.

 

He found a way to gain the power he so desperately craved; though the method comes at a heavy price…He destroyed the artifacts in order to absorb their power. It gives warlocks a very intense power boost for about a week, then, unless they do the same just as the first one is dissipating, they will be left in blinding, maddening pain for months…

 

Much as I would have liked to simply seal up the universe and leave him in a hell of his own making, even his pathetic abilities could become a threat to that universe.

 

I bound his powers, turning him human and erased his memories of this universe and any magic whatsoever. He will be tried as a normal criminal and serve out his sentence. Should he ever attempt anything so foolish again, he will be hit with the effects of the artifact poisoning, which _should_ be enough to quash whatever nefarious actions he is contemplating.”

 

“W-well, t-that should work…” Jenkins said, nodding slightly eyes a bit wide

 

“Hey, what about Magnus and Alec?” Jake asked, curiosity getting the best of him

 

Magnus tilted his head

 

“What about them, dear?”

 

“Well, they know about magic now, about us and other universes and all the rest of it. How will that affect their universe?”

 

Magnus shook his head

 

“Oh, it will not have any affect.

 

Unfortunately they couldn’t remember all of that. It is just too dangerous. Also I rather think, once the initial worry for one another and their friends and family was done it would be far more difficult for them to process. The spell I used to close off the universe will also alter any memories of actual magic.

 

They will remember all the events, all of their actions and such, but the more fantastical parts, such as Magic, universe hopping librarians, and a warlock doppelganger, will all be altered to something explainable in their universe…It is quite similar to the spell I used on Lidan, only no negative effects, and a great deal more powerful.”

 

Once again, they couldn’t do much but stare in shock; Magnus smirked at their dumbstruck expressions.

 

“Well dears, this actually has been quite interesting, but I really must be on my way. Alexander will be home soon enough; I cannot wait to tell him that I actually met an alternate version of us.”

 

He turned, beginning for the door, before pausing, turning back to them.

 

“You know, this was actually quite entertaining…I generally don’t care for you Librarians, but I must admit, you three have rather grown on me.”

 

He snapped his fingers; a shimmering violet card appeared in his hand

 

“If you guys need help, give me a call, I might be willing to lend a bit of assistance…You are rather interesting-”

 

He shifted, slinking over to Ezekiel; slipping the card into his pocket.

 

“Plus, the view here really is quite nice. Give me a call sometime, Sweetheart.” He finished, giving a playful smirk and a flirty wink

 

With that he turned striding out, chuckling faintly

 

Ezekiel snaps out of their shared stupor first, glancing around at the others, totally baffled

 

“Okay, so even for us, _that was weird_ , **_right_**?”

 

The others nod in unison, Jake slipping his arm around Ezekiel’s waist, tugging him close.

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Raphael-Raphael-Raphael-Raphael-Raphael

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

Raphael shoots bolt upright in bed, gasping, heart racing. He looks around the dark room, breathing a sigh of relief when he sees Simon stretched out next to him in bed, fast asleep,

 

 He looks him over; just to be sure he really is totally okay. He’s sleeping peacefully, relaxed, one arm thrown up stretched above his head, breathing deeply, a soft slight smile playing on his lips.

 

_Thank god, it was just a dream…_

 

He scooted closer to Simon, taking a deep breath and laying back down. Raphael reached over, tugging Simon close. Simon happily snuggles up against him, giving a soft, happy, totally contented sigh. He settles in, resting his head on Raphael’s chest, right above his heart.

 

Raphael shakes his head slightly, as always completely at a loss as to how he ever ended up lucky enough to have Simon in his life. He tugs him just a little closer.  Wrapping his arms around him securely, He leans down, pressing a soft, gentle kiss to Simon’s forehead. Simon sighs; he slips his arm around Raphael, cuddling in more.

 

Raphael smiles softly, reaching up and running his hand through Simon’s hair as he drifts back off to sleep.

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Other-Other-Other-Other-Other

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

##  _ (Slightly Evil Magnus-SEM) _

"And then I sealed the universe, protecting it from any outside dangers." Magnus finished, stopping his gesticulating, causing the shimmering movie like recap of the day’s events to fade into nothingness.

 

Alexander chuckled warmly, shaking his head.

 

 "Man, and I thought I had an interesting day solving the Henderson case and busting a trafficking ring. You just had to go show me up, didn't you?" He teased playfully

 

 Magnus laughed faintly, cat eyes flickering in amusement. He slinked over, slipping his arms around Alec, leaning in close and nuzzling against his neck, making a contented sound somewhere between a purr and a hum...

 

 "Oh, love, you know you are always the most fascinating part of my day." 

 

 Alec chuckled, slipping his arms around him

 

 "Me, or 'other Alec'? Don't think I missed you flirting with him" he asked teasingly raising an eyebrow

 

 Magnus grinned, nuzzling closer, pressing a soft kiss just below his ear before kissing a bit harder, nipping slightly, causing HIS Alexander to groan.

 

 "Always you, love..."

 

 "Good" he said determinedly tugging him up into a hard, passionate kiss that left them both gasping and breathless...

 

 "What about me...?" Magnus asked softly when they paused for air

 

 The tone caught Alec off guard... he'd never heard his warlock sound so unsure.

 

 "Hmm... what do you mean?"

 

 Magnus shrugged slightly, glancing away

 

 "Well... the other Magnus, he was far nicer than me; sweeter, softer, more compassionate... I wonder if you would be happier if I was more like that..." he finished, trailing off slightly

 

 Alec smiled softly, tilting Magnus’s head up, looking into those gorgeous golden eyes that always made his heart race, made his breath catch, from the moment he first saw them. 

 

 "Mags, you are all those things...You hide it behind the magic, dramatics, and sheer strength that just seem to radiate from you, but I see it...I love that I'm one of the only people who get to see that part of you.

 

I don't want you to be anyone else... even if that someone _is_ technically still you." 

 

 Magnus shook his head, totally at a loss to a response to that...

 

 He settled for winding his arms around his Alexander, pulling him down into a deep, mind numbingly passionate kiss, trying to express everything that he felt for this wonderful, amazing, _entirely too good for him_ , man...

 

  _He still cannot believe this incredible man actually agreed to marry him, but he'd long since given up questioning that..._

 

_He was just so very grateful he did._

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

#  Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**__ **

Alec stretches, yawning as he reached the last bit of paper work. He shook his head at the sheer absurdity of the day…

 

They went from investigating what seemed to be little more than people getting carried away at a scifi convention to working with two undercover Interpol agents, tracking down a freaking mad scientist who was apparently _totally_ mad, and convinced he was a warlock and could take over the world using a _feather_.

 

The guy had been a bit of a screw up and ended up stumbling onto a toxic gas that could knock people out instantly and in smaller doses created vivid delusions and hyper realistic dreams.

 

He tried to use the toxins on patrons at the scifi convention in hopes of being able to use a feather from a ‘siren’  ( _He had Izzy test it when they got back to the station, it was a parrot feather)_ to steal, not **_their_** abilities _,_ But the abilities of the characters they were portraying…

 

Because, apparently, the power stealing feather wasn’t crazy enough, He had to want the powers of a hobbit and a Wookie.

 

This kinda makes the ‘Magnus getting tips from a cat’ thing seem almost mundane…

 

All in all it was a success:

 

Ezekiel and Jake went back home, though they’d asked to be left out of the case file, as they were undercover and it could compromise that.

 

Alec and Magnus had agreed …

 

Though Magnus was rather disappointed they couldn’t keep in touch. He was happy the two figured out their feelings for one another before they left.

 

That really was wonderful, they deserved it…

 

Also, Alec had the feeling that Magnus wouldn’t let them leave until they got that sorted.

 

The hostages were all okay, they had been thoroughly checked over at the scene by the paramedics for any lingering effects from the unknown toxin. They all looked like they were in the clear, all rather tired, and reporting bizarre, vivid dreams, but other than that, they were fine.  All of them were now safely back home where they belonged, getting some much needed rest.

 

“Darling, are you nearly finished? You look as if you are about ready to collapse…” Magnus said affectionately, resting his hands on Alec’s shoulders, leaning in glancing over the paper work.

 

Alec leaned back slightly, glancing over and catching his warm, deep brown eyes,

 

His heart did that familiar fluttering thing,

 

He reached up, absently resting his hand on Magnus’s, squeezing just a bit.

 

“Hey…Luke finally let you out, huh?”

 

He chuckled warmly, nodding

 

“Yes, well, for tonight at least…I’ve a feeling I may be hearing about this one for quite a while yet.”

 

Alec gave him a slightly sarcastic look, raising his eyebrow

 

“What, going off on your own to confront a bond villain reject, who was _clearly_ fixated on you and trying to lure you into a trap? Yeah that one’s gonna take a bit”

 

Magnus shook his head slightly

 

“I know…I am just glad everything worked out, everyone is safe, and Lidan is no longer a threat to anyone.

 

It truly was the best outcome we could have hoped for.”

 

Alec nodded

 

“Yeah…I’m really glad Maddie was the security there. I could see me trying to explain that a mad scientist whose convinced he’s actually a warlock was kidnapping people in order to steal their essences with the aid of a parrot feather, to just some random security guard, don’t think my badge would really cover that one.”

 

Magnus chuckled, nodding

 

“She’s actually gonna come by this week and talk to Luke, I really hope she comes back, she was one of the best officers I’ve known.”

 

He glanced over again, absently squeezing Magnus’s hand once more.

 

“I really think you’d like her… She was a really positive part of my life.  Actually working with her was a big part of why I was okay coming out when I started with the SBPD.”

 

Magnus gave him a small, affectionate smile

 

“Then I would very much like to meet her, if anything else, to thank her.”

 

Alec blushed, smiling

 

“However, that, and anything else really must wait until tomorrow... I do not know about you, sweetheart, but I am absolutely _exhausted_ ”

 

Alec shrugged

 

“I know, I just have a bit more paperwork then I’ll head out, too”

 

Magnus gave a rather exasperated sigh, before moving over and perching on the edge of his desk.

 

Alec glanced up at him curiously,

 

“I thought you were heading out? You’re exhausted; go home…I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

 

Magnus raised his eyebrow, shaking his head stubbornly

 

“Nope, I am not leaving until you do…You have been through just as much as I have today, you need a rest. I am not leaving you here to spend the night doing paperwork.”

 

Alec groaned rolling his eyes slightly

 

“ _Magnus_ , you are exhausted, I’ll be fine…You need to go home and rest.”

 

“You are quite right, My Darling Detective, but, so do _you_ …”

 

“Magn-”

 

He leaned over closing the file he was working on, squeezing his hand

 

“Sweetheart, please…Lidan is in custody, we have more than enough evidence of his actions,

 

The hostages are all at home safe, the people from the convention have been treated and released…

 

Everyone is safe, Everyone is happy, Everyone is home…

 

Except you.

 

All of this can wait until tomorrow, when you have had a moment to really process everything, and several hours rest.” He stood up, grabbing Alec’s hand firmly, tugging to indicate for him to get up.

 

“Come on darling, walk me out…It is quite late, probably best to have a strong, skilled, _gorgeous_ detective walk me to my car,

 

You know, just to be safe” he said with a playful smirk

 

Alec chuckled rolling his eyes, shaking his head slightly, but relented, standing up, closing the file and putting it to the side for tomorrow.

 

He turned back to Magnus nodding towards the door.

 

“Okay, okay, you win, I’m coming…”

 

Magnus grinned, turning, falling in step beside him, close enough that their shoulders brushed slightly every now and then. He glanced over, giving Alec a warm, relieved smile,

 

“Thank you, darling, I feel safer already…” he said, playfully batting his eyes exaggeratedly, slipping his arm around Alec’s, similar to how he did at the convention

 

Alec chuckled, rolling his eyes, but he couldn’t help smiling.

 

“Well, it’s probably for the best…If anyone could end up in getting into trouble leaving a police precinct, it’d be you.”

 

Magnus gave a bright laugh,

 

“Well, I guess that just means you need to stay close to me, doesn’t it?” He said playfully

 

Alec chuckled again,

 

“Guess it does” he murmured softly, slipping closer

 

Alec couldn’t help subtlety glancing over at Magnus; He was just so happy that _HIS_ Magnus was okay…

 

_Where did **THAT** come from? _

 

They reach their cars; they had ended up parked right next to each other. It was well past midnight, there weren’t many other cars in the parking lot now. Just a few patrol cars and nondescript undercover vehicles.

 

Magnus squeezes his arm one more time, turning to him

 

“Good night, sweetheart” he says softly before turning to his car

 

Alec stops him, pulling him back, wrapping his arms around Magnus, hugging him tight.

 

Magnus sighs contentedly, sliding his arms around Alec, pulling him even closer.

 

“I _am_ okay, sorry for scaring you, yet again.”

 

Alec shakes his head

 

“It’s not that…though you truly did…I-I’m just…I’m just **_really_** glad that you’re _you._ ”

 

Magnus chuckles softly

 

“ _Sweetheart_ , who else would I be?”

 

Alec laughed faintly, shrugging, shaking his head

 

“I don’t know…I just am.”

 

Magnus gives another soft, warm laugh,

 

“Well… In that case, I am quite glad you are **_you_** ,

 

 My Darling Detective”

 

#  _ THE END….       _

#  _           ….FOR NOW _

 

#  *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, What did you guys think?
> 
> I really love how it worked out it was SO much fun!
> 
> I love my Warlock MagnusJ
> 
>  
> 
> The next story I’ll be starting pretty soon:
> 
> It’s called
> 
> **__ **
> 
> **_  Meet The Parents: _ **
> 
> A string of break-in’s hit too close to home for Alec
> 
> Magnus meets Alec’s Parents…
> 
> This one will probably have a bit more angst again…(Sorry, it’s what the story calls for, and you all know I’ll Balance it out)
> 
> We have two more stories between here and the one where we get Magnus/Alec Actually together
> 
> (Though right now they’re pretty much there, just too stubborn to admit it)
> 
> Meet the Parents- Probably kinda Angsty, but I really want this story, Also we’re gonna have Max back, and probably his friends too, cause I really liked them
> 
> About Last Night- No angst, lots of humor, lots of craziness, probably a few misunderstandings- Inspired by the episode of Psych when Woody, Shawn, Lassie, And Gus can’t wake up and can’t remember the night before… This one should be kinda crazy and fun, plus we’ll have Izzy back!
> 
> Alec Did A Bad, Bad Thing- This is the one we’ve been building to…I have so many ideas for this it is not even funny, I am so excited about this, though at this point I am afraid of how long it may end up…
> 
> _So we're getting close…thank you all SO much for keeping with it, I am really loving how this series is going, I hope you are having as much fun as me._
> 
> **_Thanks again for reading!_ **
> 
> #  __
> 
> #  _ *****So I’m just gonna ramble for a sec, but I swear there is a reason for it, Kay?***** _
> 
> ****
> 
> _So…here’s the thing…_
> 
> If you can’t tell , my mind kinda just takes random things and RUNS…
> 
> I just started writing actual FICS this year…
> 
> I’ve always had a million ideas floating around in my head but didn’t really think I’d be able to actually work them out into real, complete stories…
> 
> At the beginning of this year I wrote out a list of plot bunnies, 
> 
> As I was writing the list 
> 
>   One of the little, vague ideas, took root in my mind and I just decided what the heck and tried to write it ( **_Mack/Fitz_** Agents of Shield Car Shop AU-)
> 
>  They’re like 10th in my list of pairings
> 
> _–Yes, I have them listed and ranked; I have just shy of 30 over all-_
> 
> _No, I am not sorry_
> 
> Up till then I’d never written an actual, full length story, the plot was just literally, AOS/Mechanics  shop AU, and I know less than **_absolutely_** _nothing_ about car repair, So, _of course_ , that’s the one I run with….
> 
> **_I swear, I’m going somewhere with this…_ **
> 
> So, the Second thing I wrote was this series, it was one of the ideas on my Plot Bunnies List.
> 
> Literally my ‘plot’ for this initially was just ‘Shadowhunters cast, only without the Supernatural/Magical elements in a Psych type detective series’
> 
> So, naturally, my very next thought is …
> 
> **_But what if we DID have the supernatural/Magical stuff?_ **
> 
> I know this is kinda crazy, but what do you guys think of having some stories in the Librarians/Warlock Magnus Universe?
> 
> I really love how he turned out and want more with him because he is SO much fun!
> 
>  
> 
> Mind you, I won’t do anything on that until we get to the **_Alec Did a Bad Bad thing_** story (and the Pride thing after it)
> 
> But after that?
> 
> (Keep in mind I’ll still have more installments in this series, I’ll just be bouncing around a bit)
> 
> [Here’s what I have so far](https://aceofhearts85.deviantart.com/journal/)
> 
>  

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so, I know not all of you watch the Librarians, so you don't really know what the characters look like...  
>  That's a real shame, So I wanted to help...
> 
>  
> 
> (I have one of these for all my pairings...


End file.
